


The Stars In Our Sky

by bookscoffeerain



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), Canon Compliant, F/M, FitzSimmons Fam, Fitzsimmons Family Feels, Fluff, Missing Scene, Original Child Character(s) - Freeform, Perthshire Cottage (Marvel), Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, domestic fitzsimmons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 80,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25954243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookscoffeerain/pseuds/bookscoffeerain
Summary: A work exploring the Fitz-Simmons Domestic life that we don't get to see in the show. Starts during the "We had time" bit and ends who knows where, but will at least make it to the epilogue part of the show. I just love Domestic Fitz-Simmons and we really don't get enough of it so here I am. Also spoilers for the ending of the show, you've been warned.
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 208
Kudos: 215





	1. Running Away to The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Set a little before and after the flashback we see in 7x11 for context

It was the middle of the night, or maybe it was the middle of the day, Fitz had no way of knowing, all he knew was that Jemma had tried to get him to go to sleep but he just couldn't. Fitz gave up on sleep and had full intention on going to brainstorm more ways to save the world in the lab. He chuckled to himself. Who would've thought that that would be a regular old sentence he would say or think multiple times a year? But he took a detour and ended up in the cockpit of the Zephyr, looking up at the stars all around him. His surroundings for the next year or so, or until he cracked time travel. Fitz shook his head in disbelief, how was he supposed to do something that people had only cracked in movies and fictional worlds? Before he could worry himself more he felt a hand slip around his waist. "Can't sleep?" he asked, pressing a kiss to the top of Jemma's head.

Jemma shook her head, "I'm not feeling well."

Fitz turned around and took her hands, "What's wrong?" concern lacing in with his thick Scottish accent.

"Nothing, probably just nerves and worrying."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," he said rubbing her arms, "It'll be okay, we'll see them in no time." he said as a reassurance to both of them. The team that had started as a bunch of kids thrown together on the bus with _The Calvary_ and _The Phillip J Coulson from the battle of New York_ had become their family, and they both missed them. 

Jemma rested her head on his shoulder, "I'm just glad I'm with you." 

"It's been nice, if we ignore the whole world ending thing and Enoch not knowing what personal space is, it's almost been like a honeymoon." he joked.

"Hey, you and I both know that Enoch saved our life multiple times." she chided. 

"I know, I know, and I'm grateful, I'd just appreciate some alone time." he said going in for a kiss.

Jemma turned her cheek, "You and I both know that we've had plenty of alone time in the past week." Fitz could feel the tips of his ears turning bright red. "I love that you still get embarrassed," she teased. 

"I'm not embarrassed! I just don't necessarily love when we almost get caught in the act by a robot!" Fitz was raising his voice at this point for no reason, he stopped when he saw the look Jemma was giving him. She laughed her Jemma laugh that he loved so much and flung her arms around his neck, he decided to let this one go for the moment as she pressed her lips to his. "I love you," he mumbled. 

"I love you too," she whispered. "Now let's try to go back to sleep." Fitz nodded sleepily and let her lead him back to their makeshift bedroom.

~~~~~

Fitz woke up cold, he brought the blankets back up to his neck and patted the area next to him, to try and bring Jemma closer to him, for body warmth, even though she was always freezing, he could maybe make her a bit warmer. "Jem?" he mumbled, realizing that no one was next to him. Fitz didn't like waking up early, but he decided to go try to find his wife. He went to the planes bathroom to see her huddled over the toilet. "Jemma?" concern raising in his voice as he rushed to sit next to her. 

"Hey Fitz," she said weakly, as Fitz rubbed circles into her back. 

"Hey Simmons," he replied with a smirk, "How you feeling?" 

"Fitz-Simmons," she corrected, "Well I threw up," Jemma said motioning to her surroundings and predicament. 

"I can see that. Have you eaten anything that could've caused this?" Fitz asked, the past 14 years of being inseparable from Jemma had rubbed off on him. 

"No. But, Fitz, I am a little bit late." she sputtered out, searching his face for a reaction.

"Hey, nothing's late for us," he joked, "I am building a time machine." 

She chuckled weakly, still pale from her time with the toilet, "No Fitz. My period." 

Fitz's hand's stopped rubbing circles into her back in shock. "You mean? You think? You're, you're, you're pregnant?" he managed to get out the words. 

"I don't know," Simmons said truthfully, "I'm about to run a blood test." They looked in each other's eyes for a moment, speaking with their eyes before Jemma spoke up, "If I am, it just seems like the worst timing. With the team and Enoch, and I mean we're in space!" 

Fitz took Jemma's hands and stared into her amber eyes, "Hey, we'll figure it out. We always do. But raising a kid with you, if it's now or in a few years or anywhere in between is everything I've ever wanted, and I'm excited to go on that journey with you, but let's not worry about anything until we know for sure." 

"I love you." 

"And I love you." Fitz got up from the bathroom floor and put out his hand, "Let's go take that blood test." 

"Together?"

"Together." 

~~~~~

They had taken the blood test about an hour ago and they wouldn't know the results for a little while longer. Jemma had gone to work on the design of D.I.A.N.A. with Enoch, but all Fitz could do was think of what they would do if she was pregnant. He had no doubt that Jemma would be an amazing mother, but would he be a good dad, he wondered. But he wanted to be a good dad, he never wanted any kid of his to go through anything he went through, he would never do that to anyone. Fitz thought back to the the throwaway comment he had said earlier, _'_ _Hey, nothing's late for us, I am building a time machine.'_

Fitz walked in the room just as Jemma said, "Much better!" to Enoch, in reference to the the new idea they had just used on D.I.A.N.A.

"I have to admit I'm getting a bit jealous, with all the time you two are spending together." he said pointing at his two best friends. 

"Fitz, I think we may be close to a working design!" she said enthusiastically.

His pessimistic self couldn't help but add on as he looked at the metal littered on his work space, "Whelp, I'm not. I need better materials than this salvage scrap."

"It's a good thing we are building a time machine, as it does not matter how long it takes," Enoch stated matter of factly. 

There it was again, time doesn't matter for them, they could put off the end of the world, but instead he just said sarcastically, "Well, thanks for that vote of confidence Enoch. Can you give us a moment?" he loud whispered. 

"Yes," he said, not moving. Jemma smiled at him while Fitz sighed, as Enoch connected the dots, "Oh, to yourselves. Of course," he nodded and left. 

"With this working and you in the building phase, we'll be able to rush back to the temple before we know it!" Simmons exclaimed. 

Fitz put his hands to his hips, "Or not." he waited for Jemma to turn around before he continued, "Enoch's not wrong. Doesn't matter how long we take. So," he drew out that last word and walked towards Jemma, "Don't have to rush. Could just take some time to," he took a breath, "live."

"Fitz."

"We've built a nice home for ourselves here, we could spruce it up. Live. Together. No mission, no end of the world... We could just be." 

"Is this about the bloodwork?" Jemma asked, crossing her arms.

"No," It had started off being about that, but then once he started thinking of it, he couldn't stop. Not risking their lives for a couple years, just being in each other's presence with or without a child sounded perfect. "And yah. But because we deserve it, regardless." He finally managed out putting a hand to his face. 

"We don't even know if it's-" Jemma reasoned. 

Fitz cut her off, "Listen, if May and Coulson taught us anything, it's that we should take the time that we have." he leaned back against the table that was behind him as Jemma leaned against him. Fitz wrapped his arm around her neck, just enjoying being with her, putting his mouth to the top of her head. 

They stayed like that for a long time. Not wanting to talk about it anymore until they got a confirmation. The TV beeped and the both looked towards the direction of the TV. "It's done," she breathed. 

He squeezed her hand as she made the screen show the results of the blood test. _'_ _hCG found'_ it read. Fitz breathed in sharply, "You're pregnant." he smiled at Jemma who was beaming back at him.

Jemma launched herself into his arms, "Yes!" 

"Yes what?" Fitz asked, confused. 

"Yes! Let's live, be, we have time! I want to be with you and our baby," tears were now slowly falling down her cheek, Fitz hurriedly wiping them away, but he knew they were happy tears paired with the brilliant smile Jemma was wearing. 

"Our baby," Fitz repeated dumbfounded. 

"You're going to be a dad, Fitz!" 

"And you're going to be an amazing mum, Jemma. I love you!" he said breathlessly and brought her in for a passionate kiss that held the past 14 years of knowing each other, and all of the future they had with each other, and their unborn little one. 

~~~~~


	2. The Metal Cave in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pregnant! Fitz-Simmons ft. borderline rude Uncle Enoch. (We love him anyways) also ft. overprotective Fitz... Just some more domestic Fitz-Simmons fluff because who needs angst?!

First Trimester

"Right so, do you need anything? I downloaded a couple books on pregnancy and it says that during the first trimester you need to mainly ea-"

"Fitz! Have you slept at all in the past 3 days?" Simmons demanded, cutting him off. 

"I had a nap, at some point yesterday? I don't know, time is hard without the sun." Fitz trailed off, both of them remembering the harsh planet Jemma was stuck on with no sun for six months. 

"Yah, I know. But we have 9 months to figure it out." Jemma said taking his hands.

"Hey, don't think I haven't seen you reading every book you can get your hands on when I'm working on the time drive!" Fitz fired back. They both loved each other unconditionally, but being trapped on a spaceship in close quarters together can make you get on each others nerves quicker. Fitz took a deep breath, no matter what his frustrations were this was a scary, but exciting time for both of them and Jemma needed him more than ever. "I'm sorry, I know we're both scared," he pulled her into him and they both inhaled each other's presence, the only comfort in the metal cave they now called home. 

"I'm scared Fitz," she whispered. 

"I know," he said running his fingers through his hair, it calmed both of them down when he did that, and if there was ever a time they needed to calm down and take a breath, it was now. "I am too. But if any woman can give birth in a metal cave in space, it's you."

"You know you'll have to deliver the baby Mr. Squeamish," she said smirking. Fitz gulped, he had gotten better with bodily fluids and other things of the sort since being on the field, but he was no Jemma Fitz-Simmons. 

"Hey Enoch!" Fitz called out, a few moments later his best friend-robot popped his head in their bedroom.

"Do you need anything best friend, Leopold Fitz?"

Fitz only slightly tensed up this time at the sound of his first name but still corrected him, "Just Fitz, Enoch. Can you deliver a baby?" Fitz asked, going out on a limb. 

Jemma elbowed him in the side, "This was not how I imagined telling him," she hissed at her husband. 

"It has been necessary at some times for me to deliver a woman's baby. So yes, why? Jemma Simmons, are you pregnant?" The couple nodded beaming, wrapped in each other's arms. Enoch cocked his head to the side, "I see congratulations are in order for the success of your sensual gratification." 

There was a stunned silence amongst the trio until Jemma let out a giggle as Fitz's ears turned the brightest shade of red she had ever seen them. "I thought we discussed this during our year of space travel. None of that talk while I'm around Enoch!" Fitz managed to say, his Scottish accent coming out more with the embarrassment and frustration at the chronicom. 

"Thanks Enoch, we'll be out in a moment," Jemma smiled. Enoch stood there still not understanding the social cues of what that meant. 

"Right." and he headed out to the lab.

Fitz just shook his head and kissed his wife, his hands going to touch the place where their unborn child was growing, "Your going to be so loved little one."   
  


~~~~~

Fitz rolled over, seeking to pull his wife closer to him, but Jemma wasn't anywhere in the bed. They had known she was pregnant for about 3 weeks so he knew what that meant. He stumbled his way into the bathroom to see his wife pitifully throwing up in the toilet. He wordlessly sat next to her, it was too early to speak, and held her hair back while he rubbed her back. "I hate this," he mumbled when Jemma sat back against his chest, unsure if she needed to stay to get sick again.

"Well then feel free to just go back to bed then!" She snapped, the morning sickness wasn't the only thing that was acting up, her pregnancy hormones were also starting to go all out of wack. 

He silently cursed at himself for how that would've sounded to her out of context, "No, no, no, Jemma never that. I just hate seeing you going through all of this pain and uncomfortableness, for me to just sit here, I just feel so helpless, so if I can do anything that can make it a little easier, you better bet that I'll do it."

Jemma settled into his arms, "Oh Fitz, I'm sorry. I couldn't do this with out you."

Fitz kissed the top of her head, "Jemma, you are the strongest woman I know, we both know that you could do this with or with out me but luckily, we're never going to test that, I'm not going anywhere."

Jemma was apparently not willing to back down from her side of the disagreement and insisted, "No, I really couldn't do this without you. You are going to be an amazing dad."

The back of his mind kept telling him, what if you aren't a good dad? Look at how your dad was with you, what if it's just in your blood? And then with Leopold still lurking in your mind somewhere? He shook himself out of it, that is a problem for another day Fitz told himself. "And you an amazing mum, but like I said, you're never going to have to find that out." They sat like that, content, entangled in each other's limbs on the cold bathroom floor. "Jems?"

"Yah Fitz?" she responded, half asleep. 

"If we're falling asleep, do you think we should move to the comfortable bed?" he asked softly, but all he got in response was a light murmur from Jemma letting him know that she was asleep. He let a soft chuckle, and shifted a bit, getting comfortable, knowing they were there for the long haul. Fitz ran his fingers through her hair as he drifted off to join her in sleep, "I love you," he mumbled. 

~~~~~

Nearing the second trimester the young couple were curled up on their bed together. Jemma nestled into Fitz's chest, breathing deeply. He smiled, looking down and seeing his pregnant wife peacefully sleeping. Fitz had always been an insomniac, but there was just a lot of things to worry about, time travel, the quantum realm, the memory implant, and of course becoming parents, that was both exciting and extremely worrying at the same time. 

“Fitz?”

“Did I wake you?” he asked, concerned.

“No, can’t sleep,” Jemma shrugged.

“Me neither. Lot’s of things to think of. Bloody hell, we’re going to be parents soon.”

Jemma giggled, “Yah, I have no doubt in my mind that you will be an amazing father,” she said, guessing at what was bothering him.

“But what if you’re wrong?” his voice cracked.

Simmons sat up and looked at him in his striking blue eyes. “Don’t do this to yourself. I’m scared too! I'm scared that I’m not going to be a good mum, I have a feeling that no amount of research will prepare us for this one. I'm scared at raising at kid in this metal cave in the stars,” she said, using the description that Fitz often used to describe the Zephyr. "Are we selfish for raising a kid in a place where they'll never be able to run around or see the sun?" Jemma asked. 

Fitz looked at her, shocked at the notion that she'd be anything less than an extraordinary mother, “Are you kidding? You’re going to be an amazing mum!" Jemma looked at him with a grateful smile, "I don't doubt your wrong about the research, but we'll get the hang of it. As for raising our little monkey in space," Fitz stopped when he saw Jemma's face, "What?" he asked innocently.

"Little monkey?" she mused. 

"Hey, you said no to a real monkey lab assistant, let me have the next best thing... but I have a feeling she'll be even better than the real thing."

"Fitz! For the last time, we don't know if it is truly Deke's mom, it's a different time line! It could be his uncle or even his aunt, there's only a slight chance that it'll actually be his mom. So it could be a boy." she said, explaining the science that she knew he already knew, exasperated. 

"No, I have a feeling, she's a girl. But anyways as for raising our little monkey in space," he continued this time, "We'll only live here until she's two, right? She may not have a normal childhood but who else gets to learn about the stars while living among them? Plus she'll have two people that love her very much." Fitz said while placing a kiss on Jemma's forehead and placing his hand on the just barley there baby bump. 

Jemma placed a hand to his cheek, "See, and that's why you will be the best father to our _little monkey_." she said the words in a mocking tone but they both laughed. 

"But my dad and the doctor. They're still a part of me, what if I have another psychic split or-"

She cut him off, annoyed that they were still discussing it, “Don’t do that to yourself Fitz,” she stated, firmly. “I have such great confidence that you will be an amazing dad, you are the most loyal, caring, dare I say protective person I have ever met, our child will be lucky to have you as a father. Your dad’s mistakes don’t define you, and as for the doctor, that wasn’t you, and as long as we talk about it, there’s no fear that you’ll have a psychic split. I have no doubt in my mind that you will love her with all of your heart and that you won't let anyone or anything hurt her." 

Fitz kissed the top of her head, “Thank you Jemma." Fitz laid back down on his back and Jemma automatically snuggled herself into the nook of his arm and laid down on his chest. Fitz ran his fingers through her hair, his mind still racing through all of the worries of being a parent, but not one of those worries were if he would be a bad father. "Hey Jem?"

"Mhh?" Jemma responded distracted by being on the verge of sleep. 

"Did you call her a girl?" he asked, slyly.

"Good night Fitz," she responded firmly. A few moments Fitz heard her lightly snoring, so he chuckled and joined her in sleep. 

2nd Trimester

Jemma Fitz-Simmons was still somehow a morning person, even though she was 11 weeks pregnant and in a place where there were no mornings, so when Fitz woke up and she wasn't next to him he wasn't surprised, judging from the fact that the bathroom light wasn't on, she was already up and starting the day, Fitz yawned and threw on a shirt and some jeans, dressing more casually now that the only people he was around was a century old robot and his wife who had seen him during exam week at the academy. He went into their little kitchen area to find her humming with a cup of tea in her hands. "Morning," he muttered as he bent down to kiss her.

Fitz then made his way over to the kettle to pour himself some tea as Jemma chirped, "Morning!"

Fitz made a side eye at her, "What's got you so cheerful this morning?" he was classified as the grumpy one in their relationship, but she was being unusually cheerful for a woman being plagued with 'morning sickness' constantly.

"I haven't felt this good in ages, must be me being in the second trimester!" Jemma said in a sing song voice. 

Fitz smiled at his wife, "Glad to hear it," as he sat down next to her. Noticing the cardigan that was wrapped around her, "Is that my cardigan?" 

Jemma looked down at what she was wearing, "Yes," after seeing Fitz's eyebrows raise she quickly tried to defend herself, "Well I mean it just smells like you, and it's comfortable," she protested. 

"I mean you look beautiful in it, but you do know that I'm right here, right? I'm not on some space adventure with Enoch-okay actually yes I am," he quickly corrected his statement, "but I'm right here with you, trapped in our little metal cave in the stars, and I'm not leaving you until I absolutely have to, and then I'm never doing it again. If you want to smell me, I'm right here."

Jemma got up and sat in his lap, nuzzling against his neck, "I know, just sometimes it doesn't feel real, you know?" 

"Sometimes I think I'll wake up and we'll be back to that torturous time where we weren't talking to each other, or you being trapped on Maveth, with me slowly killing myself while trying to find you," Fitz admitted, they didn't like talking about the hard parts of their relationship, but it made them who they are and they couldn't ignore it.

"We’ve just been through so much together, the bottom of the ocean, space, time travel, and so much more but this was something I only dared dream about.” Jemma said, while rubbing the ring that had a permanent home on Fitz's left ring finger.

"Spending your days with me and a robot in space?" He teased, but Jemma's no nonsense face made him quickly keep speaking, "Well it looks like our dream is coming true, we're having our happily ever after." Fitz kissed Jemma. 

Jemma broke away, "Happily ever after?" she giggled, "That's cheesy, even for you."

"It's true isn't it?"

Jemma just shook her head in disbelief, smiling brilliantly. Fitz loved her smile, and he went in for a longer kiss, this one more passionate than the first, but rudely interrupted by a voice saying, "Jemma Simmons, I need your help working on a new idea for the implant." 

Fitz scowled at Enoch, annoyed at him for interrupting their conversation. "Jemma Fitz-Simmons," Jemma corrected. 

"Of course," he said to Simmons, then turning to Fitz said, "Leopold Fitz, I took the liberty of going through your plans and I-" 

"Enoch. Leopold Fitz-Simmons, for one," Fitz winced when he said his full name, but when he said his new last name he smiled, it seemed fitting that what was their nickname for years would legally be a name they both shared, "and for second it's just Fitz."

"Of course Leopold and Jemma Fitz-Simmons," he said, turning to go. 

Fitz and Jemma sighed, exasperated, "Well, at least he got the last name right."

"I've been asking him to call me Fitz for almost 2 years now, you would think he'd catch on by now!" Jemma sighed and stood up, bending down to give Fitz a quick kiss before turning to join Enoch, the cardigan that she had wrapped around her fallen to hang at her side, revealing a baby bump that had definitely grown way more since last night. "Bloody hell!" Fitz exclaimed.

Jemma turned around and gave him a quizzical look, "What?"

Fitz gulped, realizing how stupid he was about to sound, "It's just you're, you're, pregnant." 

Jemma laughed, "You have a phd, I thought we had already established that." her hands going to rest on her bump.

"It just your bump is so big all of a sudden, you're beautiful!" he quickly added before her hormones could react. "But, you can actually really tell." he grinned.

Fitz got up to wrap his hands around her bump, kissing her, only interrupted by Enoch calling for the happy couple, "Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz?"

"Fitz-Simmons!" the couple screamed back, clasping hands and walking towards the lab. 

~~~~~

Fitz and Jemma were slumped on the couch together watching old Doctor Who episodes. Fitz looked over and realized that Jemma had fallen asleep. He smiled at her, and turned down the TV so it wouldn't disturb her. She had fallen asleep with her hands on top of Fitz's, who's were on her growing bump. Fitz realized what Jemma had mentioned the other day, 

_"At 18 weeks the baby will be able to start hearing our voices!' Jemma said excitedly, with that gleam in her eye that she got whenever she was talking about anything to do with science._

_"At 18 weeks I'll start whispering engineering words to her, explaining how the toaster and the time drive works so that when she's born she's already picked her field." Fitz teased, their age old fight of whose field was better or more important had made its way to the surface again, but this time in reference to their daughter's chosen field._

_"The baby, not 'she'," Jemma corrected. "You have an unfair advantage because anything to do with biochem in this metal cave in the stars is us! But," she added smugly, "Astronomy still can be put under my umbrella of interests and their going to be raised in the stars, so I might just start prepping with naming the constellations, with adding a few biochem facts, just to make sure the baby is on the right track._

_Fitz rolled his eyes, "We'll just have to see what the Little Monkey chooses."_

_Jemma stopped teasing and said, "We'll love this kid no matter what, even if they're not a scientist or anything of the sort."_

_"Of course," Fitz replied, smiling brightly, he had no doubt that not enough love wouldn't be a problem for their little girl._

He did the math mentally and realized it had been about 18 weeks since Jemma was pregnant, "Here it goes," he muttered, hoping that he wouldn't look or feel too stupid. "Hey little monkey girl, I'm," Fitz got chocked up on the next few words, but he made it through with a tear threatening to escape, "I'm your dad. Your mum and I are going to love you so much, and I promise I won't let anyone, or anything hurt you. We're going to show you the stars, and when you get older we'll take you on picnics in Perthshire. We'll introduce you to Uncle Enoch, Aunt Daisy, she'll be very mad at us for having a kid with out her knowing but we know she'll forget all about it once she see's your face. We'll also introduce you to Uncle Mack, Aunt May, Uncle Hunter, as well as all of the rest of mummy and daddy's friends. God, I can't wait to meet you monkey."

"I can't wait either," Jemma joined in softly.

Fitz jumped a little on the chair, "How long have you been awake?" Fitz asked. 

"Your entire dad speech." she stated, "It was adorable," she sat up and wiped away the tears that were falling from his cheek.

"I meant every word." he said, smiling. "Let's get you to bed," he decided. Jemma was fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but as was the trend these days, Fitz couldn't get to sleep. Fitz, being very careful to not wake his sleeping wife started explaining law of thermodynamics to his daughter, "You mum and I like to think about the first law of thermodynamics, that no energy in the universe is created, and none is destroyed." He went on and on until his eyelids fluttered to a close, sleeping peacefully. 

~~~~~

Jemma Fitz-Simmons was 19 weeks when she first felt a clear flutter of movement from her stomach. She gasped and put her hand to her now quickly growing bump, she beamed down at her unborn child, rubbing her stomach. "Well hello, how nice of you to make an appearance," she cooed. "You know, your dad and I are really excited to see you, but we're new at this, so once you do decide it's time to come out, give us some grace, but I promise we will love you with all of our might. You'll be in good hands because you are a Fitz-Simmons, and Fitz-Simmons can do anything to get to the people they love. We'll have to tell you the story some time." 

She felt another set of hands close around her bump, with a kiss on her cheek, "How are my girls doing?"

Simmons felt another flutter but this time it wasn't the baby, it was just the sheer notion of his husband referring to her and their little baby 'his girls', but none the less she chided him anyways, "If they turn out to be a boy you're going to be so embarrassed." 

"I'll love him just as much, but still, I have a feeling that she's going to be a girl." he said firmly, him being too stubborn to back down now, their kid was going to be the most stubborn child you've ever seen she mused.

"I felt the baby a couple minutes ago," she said, positively glowing. 

"Jemma! How'd it feel?" He said tightening his grip around her swollen midsection, Jemma knew that it'd probably be another week or two before the baby was strong enough for a kick that Fitz could feel, and that he was probably disappointed that he didn't get to feel it, but she was thankful for him trying to not let her see, she felt the flutter again.

"Just like butterflies, like a slight flutter." 

"Wow, that's amazing, you're amazing." The baby fluttered around again and Jemma laughed at Fitz's amazement. 

"Fitz, the baby likes your voice." Jemma said, noticing a pattern. 

"She does?" he asked, unsure.

"When ever you speak, I feel it again."

Fitz smiled at her warmly, "I can't wait." he said, kissing her. The next week and a half was filled with Jemma either yelling for Fitz because she thought she felt one strong enough for him to feel, or shoving his hands on her stomach if he was right next to her, each time Fitz would come running but the baby would've already stopped or he would just give a melancholy smile and shake his head saying, "Not yet."

Jemma was sleeping, and was curled up close to Fitz, settling into their normal sleep position now that she was pregnant, his arms wrapped around her midsection, as if he was protecting both her and their baby. Jemma felt a sharp kick which made her wake up, she looked over at her husband who was grinning stupidly, "Did you feel it?" she asked. 

"Yah Jemma," he bent down to kiss her, not daring to take his hands off of her stomach any time soon. Jemma and Fitz both sat up, neither of them able to go back to bed now, so they just sat and talked, and whenever she kicked they both breathed in sharply, not believing that this was real life. After a particularly long kick Fitz chuckled, "She really is our little Monkey." 

Third Trimester

Fitz poured a cup of tea for Jemma, she was a little over six months pregnant, and had taken to just wanting to cuddle, wear his cardigans, and drink tea-not that he was complaining. He loved spending time just wrapped in the love of his life's arms, especially when they both knew that it wasn't going to be just the two of them (Plus Enoch) for much longer. "You got it?" he asked as he gave Jemma the cup and climbed in bed with her.

"Mmh, thanks," she nodded. 

"What are you reading?" he asked. 

"Book about space, I thought maybe there'd be some good name options in there." Jemma said, motioning to the star charts he was looking at. "I mean they will be raised for part of her life in the stars, seems fitting."

Fitz shivered, "It's a lot of pressure to name an entire person. Any good options yet?" 

"No." Jemma shook her head as Fitz took the book from her.

"Let's see, Nova, Electra, Maia, Mira," Fitz rattled off options.

Jemma scrunched her nose, "No, none of those sound right. Also all of those names were girls names." She reminded him 

"Those are the only options we need." Fitz said firmly

Jemma huffed, making her bangs fly up and rolled her eyes, "With the 50% chance that we have a boy we need some names, humor me."

"Zavijava?" Fitz asked, a sly smirk on his face. 

"No. We could do Leopold Jr.!" Jemma suggested brightly.

"Please tell me you're joking because no child of ours is going to be named _Leopold._ " Fitz said, horrified at the suggestion. 

"Your name's Leopold!" She reminded him. 

"Yah, and there's a reason I go by Fitz."

"I'm sorry. I agree there is no way any kid of ours is being Leopold, the only reason I don't hate it is because my favorite person is named Leopold."

"Let's just stick with Fitz for now Jemma." He said, kissing her forehead. "What about Castor Fitz-Simmons in the unlikely event that it is a boy?" 

"Hmm, I like it, I'm not completely sold."

"Me neither, but anything's better than Leopold." Fitz shuddered. 

"What about Phillip? I know you never got to say a proper good-bye to Coulson like the rest of us." Jemma softly suggested, it was a sore point, the whole her getting married to another Fitz. 

"I love it, but we'll have to use it for the next kid." still not budging from his 'it's a girl' theory. 

" _If_ it's a girl we could still call her Pippa or something." Jemma pointed out. 

"That's cute, but I'm not sold quite yet." Fitz responded despondent. "I mean we have 3 months left to figure this out. Surely we can think of something." 

"Daisy?" Jemma asked. 

"No, that's weird, as is Melinda, Yoyo, Mack, Deke, and Enoch." 

"You missed Hunter and Bobbi," Jemma pointed out.

"We are not naming our kid after Lance Hunter, that's almost worst than Leopold." Fitz said firmly.

"So Bobbi's on the table?" Jemma asked, giggling.

"No."

"Grant?" Jemma half-heartedly suggested. 

"Absolutely not."

"Hey, he is the reason we are together when you think about it," Jemma reasoned.

"We would've figured ourselves out!" Fitz protested. 

"Alright Mr. You're more than that!"

"Oh shut up, Simmons," he said, reverting back to his nickname for her that he used at the academy, as he often did if they were caught up in their projects finishing each other's sentences or "Fitzsimmonsing" as Daisy likes to call it, or if they were bickering. It was a nice sentiment because before they were anything else, they were best friends, for 10 years. 

"Why didn't I think of it before?!" Jemma sat up and almost spilled her tea.

"What?"

"Alya." 

"Alya Fitz-Simmons." Fitz said, testing out how it sounded, he grinned, "I love it." 

"My favorite star, where she'll be born and be raised for the first few years of her life, it means the sky, which I'm sure Daisy will love once she hears, and it's a triple star system." Jemma said listing all of the pros of the name. 

"Alya Fitz-Simmons." Fitz kissed her forehead, "Good job, I love it." 

"It could be a boy," she reminded him.

"If it is, we have three months to get it together."

"Middle names?" Jemma asked. 

Fitz groaned, "Why is this so complicated? Who needs a middle name?" 

"Fitz. She needs a middle name." Jemma said sternly.

"You just said she!" Fitz said, ecstatic that he had tricked his wife.

"I'm allowed a slip up, it's bound to happen with you only referring to the baby as a she or 'Little Monkey'. Anyways, middle names!"

"Alya Anne Fitz-Simmons?" Fitz suggested.

"Not bad, but is it weird to give our daughter the same middle name that I have?" Jemma asked. 

"Not sure. I guess it depends on what you feel like your comfortable with. So, what do you feel like you want?" Fitz responded. 

"Not sure." 

"Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons?" Fitz suggested. 

"What happened to not naming her after our friends that our alive?" Jemma asked, staring into his brilliant blue eyes that were looking at her with so much love. 

"That was for the first name, middle name, I'm not opposed to. I mean May probably has saved our lives hundreds of times," Fitz explained. 

"I love it, it's definitely on the list." Fitz grabbed a notepad and started writing the different name ideas they had had, which in the grand scheme wasn't that many names. "We still have no idea what to name him if it's a boy," Jemma reminded. 

"We have some starter options," Fitz brushed it off, they had time, for perhaps the first time in their life, had time. 

~~~~~

Fitz was working on one of his many projects when the sound of his 7 month pregnant wife coming into the lab made him stop, "What are you doing here?" he asked putting his hands on his back.

"Fitz, I'm allowed to be in our lab. I'm pregnant, not sick with an alien virus." Jemma rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips in the same way Fitz had always done since the Academy, she had always made fun of him for it, calling it the 'pregnant woman stance'. Jemma quickly put her hands down to rest on her stomach. 

"Yah, never again, that was one of the worst days of my life." Fitz said, when he went to sleep sometimes he could still see her half smile before falling to her death, him being trapped on the other side of the glass, not being able to do anything, he shuddered.

"Fitz." Fitz looked up to see Jemma's brown eyes, which had lost the twinkle of laughing, and had dawned a more serious, almost pleading look.

Fitz quickly made his way over to his wife and wrapped her in a hug, "What is it?"

"We have no baby supplies whatsoever, I haven't had an ultrasound, so we have no way of knowing if this baby is healthy or not." 

Fitz just held her in his arms, muttering loving things to her. He had thought of the same things, he had no idea what they were going to do, he could only make so much with the supplies they had. "We'll figure it out."

"I couldn't help but overhear." Enoch interrupted. Jemma and Fitz both looked up, wiping away each other's tears. 

"Yes Enoch?" Fitz spoke up. 

"You were just saying that you needed supplies for the baby now?" He cocked his head to the side. 

"Yes, but we have no way of getting anything we need." Jemma explained through sniffles. 

"I was waiting until you two needed it, but it seems like you two could use it now. Follow me." Enoch declared. The couple exchanged a look and followed him to the containment pod. "When I looked at the time stream to see what needed to happen, I saw that there would be an 85% chance that you would have a child during our time in space, so I took the liberty of buying baby supplies when I was stocking up for your needs as well," Enoch hit the control pad on the side of the pod and it opened to have baskets filled with anything you could need or hope for when raising a child.

"Oh Enoch!" Jemma gave him a big hug and then walked into the pod to see what they were working with.

Fitz looked in the pod speechless before he turned to Enoch, "Are you telling me you had all of this stuff the entire time?"

"That is correct Leopold Fitz." Enoch nodded. 

Fitz couldn't be bothered to correct Enoch that time, "And you didn't think to tell us?! We have been worrying about this for the past 7 months!" Fitz exclaimed. 

"Fitz, be nice." Jemma called back. 

Fitz took a deep breath, and the hugged Enoch, "Thank you," he whispered, "although next time, feel free to tell us 7 months earlier." He joined Jemma and slid one arm around her waist, and the other to meet her hands on her swollen midsection, he kissed the top of her head, "We're going to be all right. All three of us." 

~~~~~

Jemma was pouring herself a cup of tea when she felt a sharp pain, and she let out a groan. In seconds Fitz, who had become very clingy and overprotective in the past couple of weeks, ran over to her side and helped support her, "You okay?" concern evident in his tone. 

Jemma nodded, "Yah, it's probably just a Braxton Hicks."

"You sure?" Fitz asked. 

"Fitz, I'm fine," Jemma responded, annoyed. 

"Well, let's get you to bed anyways," the couple moved over to their bedroom, just as Fitz was about to push the door open Jemma felt water rushing out of her.

Jemma looked at him in disbelief, "I think I'm in labor." Jemma said, it not setting in. Fitz's blue eyes widened. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to send in requests/prompts for one shots and AU's separate from this collection!


	3. A Triple Star System

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma's in labor, how is Fitz going to handle it? (Spoiler: Not well). Also newborn! Alya Fitz-Simmons.  
> (Happy birthday Fitz!)  
> Disclaimer: Me posting this on Fitz's birthday does not mean that Alya was born on Fitz's birthday it just happened to be posted on his birthday.

Jemma was pouring herself a cup of tea when she felt a sharp pain, and she let out a groan. In seconds Fitz, who had become very clingy and overprotective in the past couple of weeks, ran over to her side and helped support her, "You okay?" concern evident in his tone. 

Jemma nodded, "Yah, it's probably just a Braxton Hicks."

"You sure?" Fitz asked. 

"Fitz, I'm fine," Jemma responded, annoyed. 

"Well, let's get you to bed anyways," the couple moved over to their bedroom, just as Fitz was about to push the door open Jemma felt water rushing out of her.

Jemma looked at him in disbelief, "I think I'm in labor." Jemma said, it not setting in. Fitz's blue eyes widened. 

"Bloody hell." 

"Fitz, go get Enoch," Jemma told him sternly.

"I'm not leaving your side," Fitz protested. 

"Well then you will be the one delivering the baby. I promise you, I won't give birth in the two minutes it takes for you to go grab Enoch." Jemma said, her hand on Fitz's cheek. 

"Right," Fitz squeezed her hand, kissed her then ran out frantically. 

In spite of their situation Jemma giggled, she couldn't imagine how much more of a wreck Fitz would be if they had to go through a normal birth, rushing to the hospital, trying to remember to pack everything they would need. No, this was much better for their little family, Jemma tried to convince herself. Jemma put her hand to the large baby bump, "I'm so excited to meet you, I'm sorry that you won't be able to see the sun for a few years, but we're doing this for you, so that there is a home to go back to. I love you so much, and I haven't even met you yet."

Fitz ran back into the room breathless, "Have you had another contraction?" 

"Not yet. I probably won't give birth for a couple more hours at least." She assured him. 

"I'm so sorry Jemma." Fitz said, his big blue eyes looking down at her. 

"It's alright."

Enoch strode through, "Jemma Simmons, let's get you on the bed." 

Fitz looked at his wife, worry crinkled on his forehead. He could never bare to see Jemma in pain, and the fact that she'd have to endure this for the next few hours made his heart clench. He helped her onto their bed and then let go of her hand for just a second so he could go grab a chair and bring it over to the side of the bed. He clasped her hand the moment he sat down on the chair, giving her a kiss. "You can do this." Jemma gave a weak, but grateful smile back at him. "A woman who survived 6 months on a deserted alien planet, had two phd's by the time she was seventeen, was the youngest to ever graduate from the Academy with the best marks, jumped out of a plane to save all of her friends, dragged me from the bottom of the ocean, played acid roulette just to get me out of prison, spent a year traveling in space just to find me, you've been tortured, and you have worked undercover at an organization that likes killing, you for sure can give birth to our little girl."

Jemma looked at the man that was her best friend, she felt an overwhelming amount of love for him, "I love you, so much."

Enoch started getting to work, "How far apart are your contractions, Jemma Fitz-Simmons?" 

"What I thought were just Braxton Hicks were actually contractions, so probably about 12 minutes?" Jemma said, unsure,

Enoch nodded, "You should be expecting another one in 9 minutes."

Fitz searched his brain for a way to distract themselves, "What do you think our 16 year old selves would say if they saw us in this predicament?"

Jemma thought, "I'd probably ask my future self 'So you really couldn't do any better than him?'" 

"Okay, you are giving birth to a whole human, so I'll let that one slide, but really?" Fitz asked.

"No, just wanted to see how you'd react. I'd probably first be excited that I was actually in space, then realize who was sitting next to me holding my hand through it all." She squeezed his hand as a way to say 'thank you'.

"What would you think when you realized it was me holding your hand?" Fitz asked, curious. 

"I don't think I'd be surprised, deep down I think I always knew, but I'd be happy. Who else would I want by my side for the rest of my life besides my best friend?" Jemma explained. 

"If you always knew you could have brought it up in conversation at some point." Fitz pointed out. 

"Well I didn't know it at the surface, and besides than we wouldn't have that great love confession at the bottom of the ocean." Jemma reasoned. 

"Or yours when I was about to go on a war bound aircraft." Fitz teased.

"I don't think I would change any of it." Jemma sighed, taking comfort in Fitz's hand in hers. 

"If I saw this scene playing out in front of me when I was 16, I probably would be excited that my pretty best friend liked me better than Milton." Fitz joked. 

Jemma rolled her eyes. "Do you know the real reason I broke up with Milton?" Jemma asked. 

"Cause he had a cabbage head and agreed with everything you said and that he wasn't 'interesting enough for you'-I'm quoting you directly on that last bit." Fitz arched his eyebrows. 

"Yes, but also because he got annoyed when I was with you or if I would talk about you and then one day I realized that on every date, I had wished I was with you instead, studying in your dorm." Jemma admitted. 

"Those were the days weren't they? Living off the British junk food my mum had sent over, up to our ears in notes, trying to study until first light but end up tangled in each other's arms asleep, those are some of my favorite memories of you." Fitz replied, stroking her hand with his thumb. 

"Remember the first time I woke up in your dorm? We were both so flustered!" Jemma laughed in spite of being in labor, laughing at their awkward 16 year old selves. 

"Don't remind me," Fitz groaned thinking back at his awkward past self. Jemma grimaced, "Another contraction?" Fitz asked.

"No, just some slight pain, but not a contraction." Jemma reassured him. 

It went on like that for the next four hours, Fitz thinking of his favorite memories of Jemma and telling her, or talking about what they'll do when their little monkey comes into the world, or just telling Jemma how brave she is and how much he loves her. Fitz hated seeing her in pain, so he did those things as a comfort to her but also to distract himself from the fact that she was in pain. The contractions became to come faster, until what seemed like 10 minutes later and 10 days later all at the same time Enoch told Jemma, "On the next contraction, I'm going to need you to push."

Jemma nodded, gearing up. "You can do this Jemma, I love you okay? You're doing so well, just a little bit longer and then you get to hold her in your arms." Jemma pushed all the way through the end of the contraction, and let out a big sigh when it was done.

"I can see the head, this next one is going to be the last one, so Jemma Simmons, I'm going to need your biggest push yet," Enoch stated. 

Fitz kissed her forehead, "See, you are doing so well, you're almost there." 

The next few moments were a blur for Jemma but one of the scariest moments of Fitz's life, (most of them had to do with Jemma being hurt or in trouble). All Jemma knows is that she was pushing with all of her might, practically ripping off Fitz's hands by holding them so tight, and then the next thing she knew she heard a baby crying-her baby crying. Enoch announced, "It's a girl!" Fitz and Jemma shared a look of pure joy and happiness, tears in both of their eyes, and a smug smirk twitching on Fitz's face. Enoch cleaned up their baby girl then immediately placed her on top of Jemma's chest. Jemma instinctively wrapped her arms around her, all fear of not knowing how to take care of a baby gone when she saw the little one's face, the first thing she noticed was that she had Fitz's brilliant blue eyes, but she had her nose and freckles. "Hello Alya," Jemma said through tears, "It's nice to meet you."

Fitz had so much love for the moment that was unfolding in front of him, but he turned to Enoch and whispered, "Thank you." 

"You are welcome." Enoch nodded his head. Fitz ditched his chair and climbed into the bed with Jemma, his arm around her he pressed a kiss to the side of her head, "You did it," he smiled. Fitz looked down at his little girl, to see a pair of blue eyes, identical to his own looking up at him, she had Jemma's nose, freckles, and smile, and he felt instant love for her.

In what felt like in no time Enoch announced, "Placenta delivered." Jemma looked up shocked, being too swept up at admiring her beautiful daughter, she didn't even notice.

Their daughter started screaming about an hour after she was born and Fitz tensed up not wanting to hear his daughter in pain, "Oh your just hungry aren't you?" Jemma cooed as she placed her head near her breast, gently guiding her daughter's mouth to her nipple. After many failed attempts their daughter finally latched on. 

"Your amazing." Fitz murmured against her shoulder. 

"She's beautiful isn't she?" Jemma said, tracing her finger along Alya's face. 

"Yah she is, the stars in our sky." Fitz murmured.

"Our Alya," Jemma said softly, those two words filled with so much love. 

"Alya 'Monkey' Fitz-Simmons." Fitz repeated. 

"Monkey is not her middle name, Fitz," Jemma softly chided. 

"Do you have any ideas?" Fitz asked. 

"I like your's, Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons." Jemma admitted looking down at their daughter. 

"It's perfect," Fitz said while playing with Alya's feet. 

Alya seemed to stop nursing so Jemma burped her and then cradled her, Jemma never wanted to let go of their daughter but Fitz could tell she was tired, "Hey, Jemma do you need to take a nap?"

Jemma nodded reluctantly, "Here, do you want to go to your daddy?" she whispered. 

Fitz smiled warmly as he took his daughter from his wife's arm. "You did amazing, now rest." he told her, kissing her forehead, then turned to leave her in peace. "Hey little monkey," Fitz bounced her in his arms, he looked at the blanket she was still wrapped in, "Let's go put some clothes on you, yah?" He went to the bunk next to the couple that they had decided would be Alya's, complete with every monkey stuffed animal you could ever want, thanks to Uncle Enoch. Fitz looked through the top drawer of her dresser that Jemma had already established as newborn clothes, he grabbed a monkey onsie. "How does this one look to you, Alya?" She made a noise that he took as a yes, and ever so gently placed her on the changing table. He put a diaper on her and then the onsie, grateful for when his mom was a nanny, "There, now you really look the part, monkey." Fitz picked her up once again and held her in his arms, playing with her small hands, "Alya, I'm your dad, and I didn't have the best father, and I never want you to go through that. I want you to know that I'm going to try to be the best father I can be, cause I love you so much. I've known you for about 2 hours, and have held you for maybe 3 minutes, but I already know that I'm not going to let anyone or anything hurt you." Alya started fussing, and Fitz instinctively started lightly bouncing her and softly singing and humming the parts he didn't remember of an old lullaby his mom used to sing to him.

Lies low the sun and shadows tall  
Across the fields are creepin  
And soon the big roond yella moon  
Will ower the brae come peepin  
Haste ye noo, lay by your barrow,  
Daddy'll mend the broken wheel the morrow  
Come ye in and get ye bedded doon,  
It's time me girl wis sleepin.

Come put ye on your wee white goon  
Afore the peat fire cheery,  
We'll gang the morn intae the toon   
For sweeties for my dearie  
Hush ye noo and stop your sighin  
Or Wee Willie Winkie'll come a-pryin  
Snug ye doon, me girl, and sleep ye soond  
For Mammy's sittin near ye.

She's played a day wi golden sand,  
And weary is my monkey  
Her curly head is noddin',  
and she's greetin for her Daddy.  
Wheesht ye noo, my brave wee fella,  
Tears'll weet your cosy cosy pillow  
Close your eyes while Mother sings to ye,  
My sleepy peedie monkey.

O softly, softly, ane and a’,  
And gentle wi your speakin  
She's turned his wee face tae the wa  
And ceased her plaintive weepin  
Dream ye sweet, my bonny fella,  
Eyes so blue and hair sae yella yella  
Hush noo, lightly let your footsteps fa,  
For my wee monkey's sleepin

In no time Alya was sleeping soundly in his arms, and he smiled warmly at his daughter, walking around the Zephyr aimlessly. His heart was so full of love as he looked down at the girl with bright blue eyes and a little tuft of white-blonde hair, with little curls just starting to form. He ran into Enoch, "Do you want to see your niece?"

Enoch look down at the baby in Fitz's arms, "Hello Alya Fitz-Simmons, I'm glad to see you safe and sound in the world."

"We couldn't have done it with out you, so thank you," Fitz said sincerely. 

"You are welcome," he turned to Alya, "Any daughter of my best friend will also be my best friend." 

Fitz laughed at the chronicom's bluntness, "She'll love you I'm sure." Fitz continued to bounce his daughter, still not getting over the perfect human he and Jemma had created. 'Fitzsimmons' as S.H.I.E.L.D loved to refer to them, had created and invented many stunning gadgets, things that had saved lot's of lives or made advancements in science, but Fitz knew that this would be the thing he would be most proud of, his little girl. Some how he wandered over to the cockpit of the Zephyr, all of space spread out around them. "You know, when your mum and I met we were both the most awkward kid's you've ever seen, the youngest people ever enrolled in the Academy, god we were so young. I never in my wildest dreams knew that the girl I promised myself I would talk to once I figured out something that was smart enough to say would lead me to all of this, a best friend, a wife, a family, and now you," He tickled her stomach and kissed her forehead. 

~~~~~

Fitz had been gone a while and wanted to go check on Jemma, so he and Alya made their way to their bunk. Jemma was just waking up when they walked in, "Perfect timing," Fitz smirked. 

"Did you two have fun, dad?" she said playing around with how the new name felt on her tongue. 

"Yah, did you have a good nap, mum?" Fitz asked, carefully getting into the bed, wrapping his free arm around Jemma, who leaned on his shoulder. 

"It was nice, but I'm just excited to see this little one again." Jemma gently played with Alya's fingers and toes, who rested in Fitz's arms, "Nice onsie choice," she said commenting on the monkey onsie.

"Thanks. And Jem, you do realize what this means, right?"

"What does it mean, Fitz?" Jemma asked.

"That I was absolutely right." Fitz responded, smugly.

"Oh, Fitz," Jemma said, rolling her eyes. A moment later Alya, who had just been sleeping peacefully in Fitz's arms gave out a blood curdling scream, the new parents gave each other a look through the screaming. 

"We're never sleeping again are we?" 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Fitz's birthday on the day I'm posting this so blessing your feed with some dad Fitz! and worrying Fitz! vibes. As always feel free to leave kudos, comments, suggestions or anything!  
> Also I made his mom a nanny, assuming he sometimes helps with the kids, don't know why that idea happened but we know nothing about his childhood so there's my little backstory. Song is called 'Sleeping Laddie' it's an old Scottish lullaby, that I tweaked a bit to make sense for Alya.  
> This one was easy, pure, newborn feels, next will most likely be sleep deprived Fitzsimmons.


	4. The Dust of the Stars in Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We left off with Fitz-Simmons having just become a happy little trio, but I'm sure they are going to be thrown on a crazy ride as they embark on their hardest mission yet: Raising a newborn  
> Wow that little blurb was probably the cheesiest thing I've ever written, I'm so sorry.

Fitz had been gone a while and wanted to go check on Jemma, so he and Alya made their way to their bunk. Jemma was just waking up when they walked in, "Perfect timing," Fitz smirked. 

"Did you two have fun, dad?" she said playing around with how the new name felt on her tongue. 

"Yah, did you have a good nap, mum?" Fitz asked, carefully getting into the bed, wrapping his free arm around Jemma, who leaned on his shoulder. 

"It was nice, but I'm just excited to see this little one again." Jemma gently played with Alya's fingers and toes, who rested in Fitz's arms, "Nice onsie choice," she said commenting on the monkey onsie.

"Thanks. And Jem, you do realize what this means, right?"

"What does it mean, Fitz?" Jemma asked.

"That I was absolutely right." Fitz responded, smugly.

"Oh, Fitz," Jemma said, rolling her eyes. A moment later Alya, who had just been sleeping peacefully in Fitz's arms gave out a blood curdling scream, the new parents gave each other a look through the screaming. 

"We're never sleeping again are we?" Fitz asked. 

"Maybe in 10 years or so," Jemma responded. "We've fed her, burped her, and she's slept," Jemma listed. 

"Diaper change?" Fitz suggested.

"Let me check," Jemma held her hands out for Alya, once Fitz handed her over she smelt the diaper area, "Good hypothesis Dr. Fitz-Simmons," she said wrinkling her nose, "I can do this one, you can do the next one," she said when Fitz put his hands out. 

"Come on sweet girl, let's go to your room," Jemma said bouncing the screaming Alya in her arms.

"Are you sure you should be up and about?" Fitz asked cautiously. 

"I'm fine," Jemma went next door to Alya's room, "I know you've already been in here, but this is your room," she cooed, "Thanks to Uncle Enoch you have all the toys you could ever need. I'm sure you two are going to get along well." She gently placed Alya on the changing table, "There you go sweetie, now let's see where the diapers are." In Jemma's frazzled state it took her a few tries to get the correct drawer. "Found them!" she said in a sing song voice. "You haven't even been alive for 24 hours my sweet Alya, but I don't think I've ever been happier, holding you, seeing your dad's face when your little hands grabbed on to his fingers or when he was holding you, even when you cried, although you've been doing quite well. I don't really know, I've never had much experience with children, Fitz has, with his mum being a nanny and he's actually really perfect with children, I don't know what he was so worried about." Jemma stopped her rambling, and took a deep breath as she picked up Alya, who had mostly calmed down, "I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm going to try and be the best mum I can be, and it'll be a new and exciting thing for all three of us, but we can do it, after all we're Fitz-Simmons'. Did you know you are the first one to be born with that last name, pretty special, eh?" Jemma said, tickling her chin. Jemma went back to her and Fitz's room to find him passed out on the bed, and at that moment Alya let out another scream, "Shhh, Daddy's sleeping," she muttered as she quickly left to go back to Alya's room. 

"Your lucky that daddy can sleep through anything, or else I would have to deal with a cranky Fitz, and that's not fun for me," she said in a baby voice. "Are you hungry again? Let's see, shall we?" Jemma sat down on the rocking chair that Enoch had stashed away when they came to space a little over 9 months ago, "You know it's a wonder I convinced Fitz to not 'update' this chair as he called it. We want you to have the most normal life," Jemma said while trying to get the crying baby to latch on to her nipple, "Well as normal as a life can be for a child raised in the stars." Jemma sighed a breath of relief when Alya stopped crying and latched on, "There's my good girl." 

Jemma grabbed a burp cloth and put it over her shoulder, once Alya was fed and burped Jemma expected her to be content again, like the first time she had done it, but Alya started crying again. Jemma panicked, and decided to take a walk with her, trying to calm her down. Pointing out all of the places they passed, "And that's the lab, your daddy and I met in a place a lot like this, of course we were just teenagers then, babies really. And now those babies have a baby," she said pointing to a picture of the two of them from the bus days. She wandered over to the cockpit of the Zephyr, "Look at all the stars! You were named after a star, the star we're orbiting around actually, Alya. It's a triple star system in the constellation Theta Serpentis," Jemma continued babbling about stars and constellations until Alya finally went to sleep.

Jemma felt an arm slip around her waist, and a kiss on her head, Fitz then swiftly in one motion kissed Alya's forehead, as if he's been doing this all his life, "How are my girls doing?" 

Jemma gave him a tired smile, "I just got her to sleep," 

"Let's go put her in her crib, grab a quick bite to eat, you know she doesn't have to sleep in one of our arms 24/7, right?" 

"Of course you're thinking of food," Jemma rolled her eyes.

"What?! It's 7 at night, we both agreed with the baby we'd try to get back on the American sleep schedule so we could have 'some sense of normalcy'" Fitz said, mocking Jemma. 

"Oh alright, you take her, I'll go try to scrounge something up." The parents made the trade off. Fitz made his way to the bedroom, humming the Scottish lullaby under his breath, he quietly placed her in her crib, double checked that the baby monitors he had made were working, and then slowly and quietly closed the door to her room, "Good night monkey," he whispered as he went to go find Jemma. 

The kettle was boiling as Jemma was finishing up dinner, Fitz joined her. "How is she?" Jemma asked. 

"The little monkey didn't even move when she was put in the crib," Fitz proudly declared. Fitz poured their tea and joined Jemma at the table, him sitting down at the table perfectly timed with a scream coming from the baby monitor, Jemma tensed and got up, her motherly instincts kicking in, but Fitz put a hand to her shoulder, "I got it, she's probably just needing her diaper changed, you have to be up every time for feeding until you start pumping, so eat."

Jemma looked at him with a grateful smile, she squeezed his hand that was still on her shoulder, "Thanks."

Fitz kissed her quickly then went to go get their daughter, "Hey monkey," he cooed as he picked up the still screaming baby. He placed her on the changing table, changing her wet diaper, "There that feels better now, doesn't it?" But she was still fussing, Fitz thought frantically about what to do, "You seemed to like it when I sang that song to you, didn't you? Lies low the sun and shadows tall, Across the fields are creepin," he started, and by the time he had sung the last line softly, Alya was fast asleep in his arms, "There you go sweetie," he said, swaddling her and putting her in the crib. 

Fitz walked back into the kitchen saying, "She'll hopefully be out for the next two hours, an hour at the least I think, or not, I have no idea," Fitz admitted. 

Jemma smiled at him slyly, "I didn't know you could sing!" she accused, she had been listening in through the baby monitors. 

"Oh that, it's just an old Scottish lullaby my mum used to sing to me, I sang it to her earlier when she was fussing and she seemed to calm down so I just tried it again, and it worked," Fitz waved off.

"When did we meet?" Jemma demanded. 

"14 years ago?" Fitz said in a questioning way, unsure of where this was going.

"And how have I never heard you sing until we had a daughter, 14 years later?" 

"I dunno, I mean it's not something I do, I just, my mum used to do it and-" he trailed off sheepishly, unsure if he was in trouble or not. 

Jemma got up and kissed him, "It was beautiful, you'll have to teach it to me sometime."

The tips of Fitz ears turned bright red, but he shrugged off the compliment, "Nah."

~~~~~

"Okay, I know she's only a few days old, but can you please try to start pumping soon?" Fitz begged. It was the middle of the night and all though the new parents were overjoyed at the arrival of their little bundle of joy, they were already worn out. 

"You have to get into a breastfeeding routine before you can start pumping!" Jemma exclaimed, the circles under her eyes the darkest Fitz has ever seen them, and he's seen them after Maveth and exam week at the academy. 

"Yes, but you have all of the feeding shifts, all I can do is hold her and change her diaper! I don't want you falling asleep in the middle of the night while you're feeding her because you've gotten no sleep!" Fitz protested. Alya started crying again and Simmons shot Fitz a look and shushed him. Jemma and Fitz both took a deep breath, "You've finished feeding her for the night, I'll take care of burping and putting her back down, you go get some sleep, and we can please try pumping tomorrow?" Fitz tried again in a much nicer tone.

Jemma looked at her husband, who loved his sleep insomniac or not, begging her to pump so he can sacrifice his sleep for her to get more, her eyes softened and she touched his cheek, "We'll try in two days, okay?" 

Fitz nodded numbly, as he took Alya from her and started burping her, "Fitz don't forget the-" Alya spit up all over Fitz's shirt, "burp cloth," Jemma added lamely. 

"A little spit up never hurt anyone, now did it Alya?" Fitz said, barley registering that he was wearing a now very dirty shirt. 

Jemma shook her head in disbelief, "What am I watching?" she wondered, this was the guy who almost threw up whenever he saw any bodily fluids.

"Well anything's better than when you split that guy's head open, or that cat." Fitz said. "Now go to sleep," he said, basically shoving her out the door, Jemma paused before she went into her bedroom to hear the first few lines of the song that had become a ritual whenever Fitz put Alya to bed. Jemma had tried a time or two, but it never worked out well for her, so she decided to just leave it as a daddy-daughter thing, and she loved it. 

"I know you have to eat every 3 hours," Fitz whispered to his daughter who was beginning to fall asleep after his song, "But go easy on your mum." He smiled at Alya and said, "Night, monkey." before heading to join Jemma. He opened the door and saw Jemma already passed out, on top of the covers, he smiled at her and grabbed a blanket that was on a chair, tucking her in he kissed her forehead softly. Then went to wash up before climbing into bed to join her. Fitz passed out as soon as he hit the pillow. 

What felt like 2 minutes later the couple was awoken by the all too familiar sound of Alya screaming. Fitz groaned as Jemma started getting up, he looked at the time, she had just been fed 30 minutes ago. "Jemma, she doesn't need fed, let me get her." 

"You sure?" Jemma looked at the baby monitor, and then looked at the bed, longing for both.

Fitz forced a chuckle, "Yah, I'm sure." he went down the short distance to Alya's room but saw her door already wide open. Fitz's heart dropped, his time with S.H.I.E.L.D had taught him to be cautious and to fear the worst, Fitz couldn't think of any reason why the door would be open besides someone from the outside in there, hurting his daughter. He didn't care that logically, that made no sense as there was no way someone could get on the Zephyr but he ran in the bedroom fully prepared to have to fight something so that it wouldn't hurt his daughter. But he stopped at the doorway when he saw who it was.

Enoch was holding Alya, who had stopped crying and had almost gone to bed. Enoch spotted him, "Ah! Leopold Fitz, you can go back to bed now, I heard her crying and decided to try and get her to calm down so you two can get more sleep. You both seem to not be sleeping as well in the past three days." 

Fitz snorted at the understatement of the last part. Enoch put Alya back in her bed quite expertly, "Thanks," 

"No problem best friend"

~~~~~

It was three days later and as promised, (although she managed to procrastinate it for an extra day) Jemma started pumping. Fitz was reading a quantum physics book to Alya, it didn't matter what he was reading out loud, she just liked hearing their voices so Fitz preferred reading something he liked too until she started understanding the words. 

Jemma popped her head in the living room and said, "You want first night shift tonight?" 

Fitz looked up from the book, "You pumped?"

"Yep," 

Fitz put the book down and carried Alya over to Jemma, "Thank god, I didn't like you being up every second of every day and night," 

"I don't know, I will miss the random tea deliveries in the middle of the night," Jemma teased.

"If roles were reversed and you felt helpless like me you would also be bringing tea to the other, it's what British people do! Something wrong? Tea!" Fitz ranted.

Jemma just laughed and kissed him, "Thank you." Jemma looked at the book he had been reading to her, "Quantum physics, Fitz? Really?" 

"It's not like she can understand the difference between 'The Cat in the Hat' and this yet." Fitz protested. 

"What do you think Alya, do you like quantum physics?" Jemma asked, while tickling her belly.

Alya babbled in agreement, "I think we may have a little engineer on our hands," Fitz teased.

"I don't know she seemed to like when I was reading that anatomy book to her," Jemma countered. 

"Jemma!" Fitz yelled out in feign shock, "You hypocrite!"

Jemma just giggled, "You can't do anything while I'm holding the baby." 

"I don't think either of us have the energy to do anything regardless." Fitz admitted, collapsing back on the couch. Jemma slipped Alya into his arms and joined him on the couch, playing with Alya's feet and leaning on Fitz's shoulder. 

"Do you want to try a Doctor Who?" Jemma asked.

"Ah yes, introducing our child into the three great things of life, Anatomy, Quantum Physics, and Doctor Who," Fitz teased. Jemma rolled her eyes and turned on the tv, she sat there with her little family among the stars, savoring the peaceful moments they had. 

Later at Alya's midnight feed, Fitz was the one to get up, he was so relieved to be able to take a little load off of Jemma's shoulder, he could tell she was very sleep deprived. He walked into Alya's room and swiftly scooped her up, "Hey monkey, I know it's not normally me, but I promise we'll get you your food, soon, okay Alya?" she was only a little fussy, not fully screaming, which Fitz was grateful for, as he made his way to the kitchen to warm up a bottle. 

Fitz bounced Alya, "Alright we just got to wait two minutes for it warm up, you know maybe I could make something better than this that would warm it up faster." Fitz thought for a moment, "Better not mess with what works perfectly well," he said thinking of what Jemma would say if she found out. "It's hard to think that we were both so worried about raising a child two weeks ago, but now I can't imagine my life any other way, and I'll tell you a secret, little monkey. I don't think I want to go back into the field after this last mission." Alya babbled, "I know, I know shocking! But, I'm done with risking my life, or seeing Jemma's life being risked, and I can't imagine willingly leaving you or putting you in danger. So, maybe it's time to retire, I know, I know, your old man is a little young to retire but I've made up my mind!" He said in fake argument with Alya, who couldn't speak a word, let alone carry out the entire side to a disagreement. "But do me a favor, Alya?" Fitz played with her hands, "Don't tell mum yet, I'll talk to her later, once we've gotten a bit of a breather."

The device that was warming the milk beeped, just as Alya started crying more, "Oh look at that! Looks like your milk's done!" Fitz tested the milk on his wrist first to make sure it was a good temperature, "Luckily for you, it's ready." Fitz put the bottle in Alya's arms and cradled her, his smile shining bright at having this moment with his daughter. Fitz made his way to the rocking chair in Alya's room and finished feeding her while telling her snippets of the adventures of the two awkward scientists who turned into S.H.I.E.L.D. field agents and fell in love along the way. When Alya's bottle was finished he found himself being a little sad, but he shook himself out of it, grabbed a burb cloth this time and burped her. Fitz murmured the last little bit of the lullaby to her, and then gently put her in her crib, "Sweet dreams, Alya." 

Over the next couple of weeks the lab remained untouched, progress on their various projects slowed to a stop as the Fitz-Simmons' worked on being parents, both not caring to think about their saving the world responsibilities and wanting to just live. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all the love and support! I want you to know that I really appreciate the comments and kudos and that they make my day, I'm just socially awkward and don't know how to respond... lol, but know that I love it and consider this as me thanking you!  
> As always feel free to leave, comments, kudos, or suggestions, or don't!   
> Hope you have a good rest of your day!


	5. The Fairytale in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We fast forward in time from the previous chapter to a 6 month year old Alya, FitzSimmons quickly realize they want to keep putting off saving the world.

"Your just getting so big aren't you Alya?" Jemma cooed. Jemma was sitting on the floor across from a now 6 month year old Alya, who could fully sit up on her own. She was a very happy baby now that she wasn't a newborn. Alya slept through most of the night, and didn't normally cry when she woke up, she just sat there waiting to be picked up by her mom. 

Jemma looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 10 am, and Fitz still wasn't up, "Do you want to go wake Daddy up?" Jemma asked, picking up Alya and quietly taking her over to the couple's room. "Shhh," she put a finger to her lips and walked into the room, placing Alya on her dad's head.

Fitz's groan was muffled by Alya on top of him and her giggles, "You dare wake me!" he said in mock anger, carefully placing Alya on top of his stomach and tickling her. 

Jemma smiled at the scene taking place before her, ever since Alya was born they had both been happier than ever before, but Fitz was the one who made a real turn around, hardly thinking about the framework or any of their old traumas, both of them only having the occasional nightmare and when they did have the occasional nightmare, the other was right there next to them through it all. 

Fitz sat up, placing Alya on his lap, "Morning," he said to Jemma with a kiss, his curls unruly and messed up from being in bed and Jemma's heart clenched from the shear amount of love she felt for this man and their little girl. "Already have breakfast?" Fitz asked. Jemma nodded. "Did she start crawling yet?"

Jemma rolled her eyes, "No, stop pushing it, she'll do it when she's ready!" 

"I have a good track record with these things!" Fitz insisted, then to Alya he asked, "Are you ready to start crawling? Are ya monkey?" She just laughed and smiled up at her dad. "Let's go get ya some second breakfast," Fitz whispered to Alya, "Don't tell mummy though." 

Jemma rolled her eyes fondly, "I don't know what I'm going to do when she can talk, I have a feeling you two will gang up on me every time you get the chance."

Fitz stood up and had Alya hiked up on his hip, "What?! We would never!" He said in an exaggerated tone, kissing Jemma. 

After a delightful breakfast for Fitz the three made their way to the living room for some 'crawling practice' as Fitz called it. Jemma and Fitz sat across from each other, Alya in Jemma's lap. Jemma placed Alya in front of her mother on her stomach, "Alright monkey, come to daddy!" Fitz said his arms out reaching for her, encouraging Alya to crawl towards her dad. 

"Go to daddy," Jemma cooed. Alya giggled at her dad and tried to get herself into a crawling position, but her arms gave way and she fell back on her stomach. She tried the same movement again, this time getting to the point where she moved her knees back and forth, but she didn't go anywhere. 

"That's my girl! You've almost got it!" Fitz said, encouragingly. Alya babbled and clumsily made her way forward, not knowing whether to move her legs or her arms first but none the less she was closing the distance between her and her dad. Jemma and Fitz were clapping and encouraging her loudly, and she giggled and laughed at all of the attention. Eventually she made it to Fitz's foot and he swooped her up in the air, "Good job Monkey! And you didn't give up, that's the important part," Fitz said poking her gently in the chest. Jemma got up and joined Fitz and Alya, both of them tickling their little girl.

Jemma placed her back on her stomach for her to continue to figure out crawling, both of them keeping one eye on her, "You know, now that we have a crawler, we're going to be chasing her everywhere." 

"I mean, there's not many places she can go, and she's pretty much never without us anyways so it'll be fine, but do you know what this means?" Fitz asked.

"What?" Jemma replied, already have a feeling at where this was going. 

"I was totally right again." Fitz replied, kissing Jemma, before she could get a chance to say, 'Oh Fitz.'

The rest of the day was filled with more teaching Alya how to crawl and by the end of it the parents were worn out. "Can you imagine what it'll be like when she starts walking?" Jemma asked. 

"And if she's anything like you, talking a million miles a minute?" Fitz groaned. Luckily, Alya was also worn out from a day full of crawling so she was spread out on Fitz's lap. Fitz was playing with her hair, and feeding Alya her bottle, while Jemma was playing with her feet. 

"I don't know if I can keep my eyes open for an entire episode," Jemma admitted. 

"Let's just try," Fitz reasoned. Sure enough once they started a Doctor Who episode, both of them were sucked in, and glued to the screen and before they knew it Alya had finished her bottle and it was bed time. "You want to make tea while I go put her down?" Fitz said in hushed whispers, not wanting to wake up the mostly sleeping Alya. As he made his way to her bedroom he began softly singing the old Scottish lullaby. It had become a routine, he put Alya to bed with the song, and when ever he put her down for a nap he would sing the song, it always worked to get her to sleep, or even when she was just being fussy she would calm down immediately. Fitz loved these small moments with his daughter, he finished the song and whispered, "Night, monkey," to Alya before he closed the door and joined Jemma. 

"Here," Jemma passed him a mug of tea, and curled up into his side.

Fitz kissed the top of her head and felt content, they were about to continue watching when Enoch came in and announced himself, "Jemma Simmons, Leopold Fitz, I understand that you wanted to spend time with your daughter but if you want to stick to your original deadline of carrying out the plan when Alya Fitz-Simmons turns two, you will have to start working rapidly again. Some of your projects haven't been touched in 2 months." 

Fitz sighed and Jemma sat up, they exchanged a look, "Hey Enoch, we're thinking about changing the plan a little bit, we'll discuss it and then get back to you tomorrow," Jemma smiled politely.

Enoch nodded his head, "Of course," and he left the couple alone. 

"Jems, I don't want to say goodbye." Fitz whispered.

Jemma leaned back down against him, Fitz instinctively holding her close, running his fingers through her hair, "Neither do I."

"What do we do?" Fitz asked, his voice cracking, both of them not wanting to leave their little girl, and Fitz not wanting to put Jemma through all that, separating her from Alya. But it couldn't be helped because of all the trauma his mind had been through in the past couple of years; his brain injury from being at the bottom of the ocean, to looking at the time stream, and his dark persona trapped in his mind-it was too dangerous to put the implant in his brain. 

"Let's start working on it more, but not obsessively, I want more time with you and Alya." Jemma said softly.

The couple sat like that for a moment before going to bed, taking comfort in being wrapped in each other's arms, not wanting their fairytale in the stars to end. 

~~~~~

Jemma sat up and screamed, she looked around at her surroundings, disoriented after the nightmare she had just had and then she was sobbing unncontrollably. Fitz was up in an instant, wrapping his arms around her, letting Jemma cry into his chest. "Hey it's okay, I'm right here," he said running his fingers through Jemma's hair, "Alya and I are okay, and right here with you. You're okay," Fitz said, repeating different variations of the same thing, not knowing what the dream was in it's specifics but knowing based off of Jemma's usual dreams it was something to do with her family being killed or kidnapped. A half hour later Jemma had calmed down and was still holding onto Fitz for dear life. "Do you want to talk about it?" Fitz asked softly.

"You and Alya, I, I, had to leave you two," she struggled, "The implant didn't work, and I forgot both of you, and you never could reverse it, and I never remembered either of you again." Jemma finally managed out.

"Hey Jemma," Fitz said softly, pulling her even closer. "You are the smartest person I know, that implant will work just the way it's supposed to, Alya and I are right here, right here with you." As if Alya could sense what was happening, there was a scream coming from the baby monitor. "Speaking of which, I think someone needs her mum," Fitz said, smiling. Fitz got up and put his hand down for Jemma, "Come on." 

He and Jemma went to Alya's room together, something they didn't often do on middle of the night runs, but Fitz knew that Jemma needed him by her side right now. When Jemma got to the crib, she instinctively scooped her up and held her close to her chest, "Did you have a bad dream? Because I did too, but you know what," Jemma gulped, fighting back tears, and leaning against Fitz's chest, "We're okay, we're right here together, safe and sound, living out our own fairytale in the stars together." But, Alya was still screaming, "Fitz?" 

"Yah?" Fitz murmured, still not quite awake. 

"Does she feel warm to you?" Jemma asked feeling her forehead.

"Well anything probably feel's warm to you," he said, trying to keep it light while he touched Alya's forehead. "Hmm," he thought, "She feels maybe a little warm but I don't think that she has a fever." 

Jemma sighed a sigh of relief, but Alya was still screaming and no amount of soothing or cooing was helping, "Can you try singing, that normally works," Jemma suggested. 

"Sure." Fitz took Alya in his arms, "Hey there lil' monkey, what's wrong?" Fitz then sang the song but she never once stopped screaming. Fitz bounced Alya on his chest, "I don't know what to do, that normally works!"

Jemma took Alya back and got an idea, "Why didn't I think of this before?" Jemma used her fingers to open up Alya's mouth, sure enough there was the beginning of a tooth starting to form in her gums, "Oh sweet girl," she said softly, "No wonder you're so cranky, you're getting your first tooth! I'm so sorry, sweetie. Hey Fitz, go put a teething ring in the freezer and while we're waiting for that get a clean washcloth with cold water on it," she ordered urgently. Fitz nodded and left the room, not liking his daughter being in pain.

"It'll be okay Alya, It'll be okay." Jemma said, wiping off the tears that were streaming down Alya's cheeks.

A couple moments later Fitz appeared out of breath with a cold wash cloth, "Here you go Jem," concern in his Scottish accent. "Hey monkey, it's been a big day for you, hasn't it?" he said petting her hair, "First you learn how to crawl, and then you get your first tooth, that's a lot of first for one little person." 

Fitz and Jemma both sighed a breath of relief when she stopped screaming, and the wash cloth seemed to be working. "Oh poor baby," Jemma muttered when she realized the tears were still silently streaming down her face." 

The rest of the night consisted of Jemma holding Alya, while rocking her back and forth on the rocking chair, with Fitz sitting on the floor next to them getting up at half hour intervals to replace the teething ring or wash cloth. At 5 am, Jemma whispered, "I think she's asleep." Fitz nodded sleepily and lifted Alya off of Jemma, he then carefully placed her in her crib and they both headed to bed, Fitz's arm on Jemma's back. Jemma whispered, "We can't say goodbye yet, she needs us."

Fitz nodded in understanding, but not in the mood to have this conversation at the moment, instead he collapsed on the bed, bringing Jemma close to him whispering, "I love you," before drifting off to sleep. The next day is very different from the previous day, full of cuddles, screaming, and crying. But the new parents are drinking up every last drop of parenting, not wanting to miss a moment or take anything for granted, because they know, perhaps better than anyone, how fast time goes, and how quickly your life can turn around in an instant. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all the love and support! I really appreciate the comments and kudos, and even that you took the time to read this makes my day!  
> As always feel free to leave, comments, kudos, or suggestions, or don't!  
> Hope you have a good rest of your day!


	6. A Constant Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitzsimmons are forced to start working more on their whole "Save the World" problem, amending their plans a little bit with the new development, Ayla. But how will Fitzsimmons navigate working with parenting a 9 month year old?

It was the middle of the night and Fitz was working hard on the time drive, he got sudden urges to do something with his hands, and sadly those often happened in the middle of the night. He had actually started looking at his designs again a couple of months ago, slowly getting back into the lab. Enoch was right, they needed to get back on track, sadly they couldn't run away forever and the sooner they carried the plan out, the sooner they could be living in a cottage together, with Alya, having picnics in the grass, Jemma and him retired, although Jemma would probably start doing some "light" consulting work and then they would get dragged right back. Fitz shook his head to get himself out of the day dream, looking to the baby monitor on his desk. Fitz smiled at seeing his daughter peacefully sleeping in her bedroom, "That's what you're fighting for," Fitz reminded himself, going back to work.

A few minutes later he heard crying coming from the monitor, Fitz got up immediately but remembered what Jemma kept telling him, _"You have to wait a few minutes, she'll most likely just cry herself to sleep, she has to get used to us not being there every moment she decides to make a fuss!_ " Fitz lingered in the doorway, but he saw Alya's contorted face on the video feed and decided to just go in, he was always a sucker for when Alya cried, he couldn't bear it. Fitz walked down the hall and ran into Enoch. 

"Hello Leopold Fitz," Enoch nodded in greeting.

"Hey Enoch, sorry would love to chat, but Alya-" Fitz gestured to her room. 

"Didn't Jemma Simmons tell us both to leave Alya alone if she started crying?" Enoch reminded him. 

Fitz rolled his eyes, "Yes, right Enoch I'm just going to my room then, night buddy," Fitz lied. 

"Good night best friend." Enoch walked to the chronicom lab and Fitz immediately opened Alya's door, who was still crying.

Fitz scooped her up and bounced her on him, "Can't sleep?" he asked Alya, "Yah, me neither." Fitz remembered the baby monitor and realized that Jemma was probably watching so he waved and then gave a thumbs up, he could feel the strength of her eyes rolling at him from in Alya's bedroom and he chuckled to himself. Fitz started singing Alya's song but he could tell that Alya's blue eyes were wide and alert-not wanting to go to bed anytime soon. "Do you want to take a walk with me?" Fitz asked. Alya babbled, "I'll take that as a yes." He instinctively took her to the lab, "This is where daddy normally goes when he can't sleep, although mama would probably go get tea in the kitchen. But we like to be productive, don't we?" Fitz asked Alya, tickling her. Fitz placed Alya on his lap and he started marking up plans, "Your the best little lab partner, don't tell your mum." Fitz then started softly singing her bedtime song to her. Sure enough the midnight excitement of somewhere new paired with the familiar song made Alya nod off soon. Fitz walked back to her room and placed her back in the crib, "Good night monkey," he said as he closed the door and went to his room, deciding to call it a night. 

Jemma was wide awake waiting for him, "What are you doing up?" he asked quizzically. 

"Alya woke me up and then I decided to wait for you... thanks for the wave, it was very reassuring," she added on sarcastically.

Fitz grinned and got into bed, "I couldn't help it, she seems to have inherited my sleep patterns."

"Or lack thereof," Jemma corrected, "She's going to have you wrapped around her little finger when she gets older." 

"Don't worry, she already has," Fitz kissed her forehead, before Jemma settled into him.

~~~~~

"I'm telling you Jemma! She's about to walk!" Fitz was hunched over, holding the arms of a standing up Alya who was wobbling even with the support of her dad. 

"She's barely standing up, and you're helping her, if you try to walk while supporting her, she'll still fall down," Jemma said, barely looking up from her book. Jemma looked at her watch, "Besides it's nap time for someone." she cooed going to pick up Alya.

Fitz stretched, "Yah I could use a nap..."

Jemma glared at him, "I meant the baby. You need to work on making the implant."

"Yah, I'm gonna need your help with that," Fitz called to her as she carried off Alya to go take her nap. 

The couple worked furiously in the lab, working in harmony with each other like a dance or a duet, "Simmons pass me that-" 

Jemma handed him the tool that he was thinking of, smirking, "Simmons?" 

"Sorry, old habits die hard," Fitz shrugged. One look at the baby monitor told both of them that their daughter had woken up from her afternoon nap. 

"I'll get her, you finish up here." Jemma kissed Fitz's cheek before he continued working on the implant. The implant that would erase his and Alya's location from Jemma's mind and if the chronicoms tried to get into her head, he and Alya would be erased from her memory completely, he just had to make sure it would work perfectly so he could take the implant out. _But what if they get into her brain and see that they had had a daughter, and connect the dots, knowing that they would do anything to protect her?_ He couldn't let anyone hurt his daughter. _Unless..._ _he could just erase Alya entirely from her memory in the first place?_ Fitz quickly shook himself out of that thought, he couldn't force a mother to forget her daughter. Another thought creeped into his brain, _would Jemma even be strong enough to do what she has to do if she knows what's at risk, if she knew in truth what she was leaving behind?_ Fitz put that thought in the back of his mind, something to discuss with Jemma about later. 

"Fitz." The sound of Jemma's voice behind him made him spin around, "Look." 

Jemma was holding lightly to one of Alya's hands who was on the standing up on the ground grabbing for Fitz. Fitz eyes lit up and he grinned. Fitz squatted down and put out his arms, "Come to daddy! Come on monkey you can do it!" Alya put one wobbly foot forward, "Jems, let go of her hand." he said, not taking his eyes off of the giggling Alya. 

"She's not ready!" Jemma exclaimed, worry furrowing her brow. 

Fitz risked glancing up, "She knows how to crawl, she'll be fine if she isn't ready, but I think she is." Jemma's hands lingered on Alya's, "Jem, I think you're the one who's not ready," Fitz said softly. 

Jemma unwillingly let go of Alya to prove that she was, in fact ready, "That's ridiculous!"

Sure enough, Fitz's instincts were right, she made her way clumsily and slowly to Fitz falling into his arms, "You did it monkey!" Fitz exclaimed, lifting her up. 

Jemma came over and tickled the still giggling Alya who was in Fitz's arms, "Sweet girl, you did it!" 

"And you thought she wasn't ready," Fitz smirked. 

"I should've learned long ago to trust your instincts," Jemma admitted.

"Yah, cause I'm always right."

"I seem to recall you telling me one night when we got drunk on the bus that you and Daisy, or as you said then, Skye, would end up together." 

"Okay, one thing, but I'm glad I was wrong about that one," Fitz said, the tips of his ears turning slightly pink at the mention of his old crush, he kissed Jemma slowly and deeply, breaking away because of Alya's happy shrieks, the couple broke apart laughing, "Also I seem to recall you having a crush on Ward, the psychopathic murderer, Deathlock, Trip, and Hive." 

Jemma rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, "I'm not having this conversation with you right now." 

"Tonight then?" Fitz murmured in her ear. Jemma just laughed, and Fitz turned his attention to Alya, "Let's go the living room, huh? Do you want to practice your walking a little more, monkey?"

~~~~~

Jemma and Fitz closed the door to Alya's bedroom after just putting her to bed, "I can't believe we're raising a toddler," Jemma said in disbelief once they had gotten back to the couch. Jemma leaned into Fitz's side, "I also can't believe I didn't let her walk when she was clearly ready!" 

"Hey it's okay, you just don't like the idea of your little girl growing up, that's normal!" Fitz reassured. 

"I mean, yah, for you! I thought you'd be _that_ parent out of the two of us!" Jemma exclaimed.

"Am I supposed to be offended or...?" 

Jemma continued, "But when she's a teenager and starts dating that's when I'm sure you'll try to make her stop growing." 

"Who said anything about anyone dating my daughter?!" Fitz exclaimed, very overprotective over Alya.

"Well I mean Deke had to be made at some point," Jemma pointed out.

"That's it, she's never leaving the Zephyr," Fitz huffed, Jemma just rolled her eyes and snuggled into Fitz's side more. Fitz sighed, "You know, sometimes I remember Deke, and I'm excited for him to meet Alya, I think they'll get along really well, and then I remember the way we left him, in that huge argument, I mean, he doesn't have any other family, and-" Fitz broke off, tears threatening to escape.

"I'll make sure he knows," Jemma lightly said, "And then you can re-tell him in person." 

"What if we gave him my side of the lab for himself during your journey through time?" Fitz asked, desperate to make things alright with his grandson. 

"I think that's an excellent idea," Jemma smiled, the two sat there, neither of them wanting to break the comfortable science.

"I just don't want him to think that I don't like him, I don't want it to be a repeat of my dad, with Alya or Deke." Fitz finally admitted. "He just reminds me so much of me when I was younger."

"I know." Jemma said softly, "And that's one of the things I love about him." 

"I'm going to try harder Jemma, when I see him again," Fitz promised. 

"And that's why you're better than your father." Jemma reassured, kissing him. "We could offer him a permanent room in the cottage!" Jemma offered brightly.

"Don't push it." Fitz said with a smile, both of them laughing. "What do you think he'll say when he finds out we may have already had his mom?" Fitz asked.

Jemma though about, "I don't know, it'd be a little weird though, meeting your mum as a 3 year old."

"We still don't know for sure," Fitz reminded her 

"It'd be easy enough to find out, we have old records of Deke's DNA, but part of me doesn't want to find out." Jemma admitted. 

"I know what you mean, I love Alya with all my heart, but missing out on raising a different daughter that doesn't exist anymore, just-"

"Makes me sad," Jemma finished. 

"Do you want to find out?" Fitz asked Jemma.

"Together?" Jemma asked. 

"Together." Fitz confirmed, smiling. 

~~~~~~

"Looks like I'm going to be keeping Alya away from anyone with the last name Shaw," Fitz joked. They had just seen the results that did in fact confirm that Deke was Alya's son. Jemma was sobbing against Fitz's chest, while Fitz was stroking her hair. 

"I don't know why I'm crying," Jemma said wiping her eyes, "I guess I'm just glad to know that we didn't loose a daughter." 

"Alya's too special to us, she'll pop up in every timeline, she's our constant." Fitz responded, wrapping Jemma in his arms and kissing her head. 

When it was time for the couple to head in for the night Jemma said, "And don't you dare have another insomniac spree with Alya, we can't ruin her sleeping schedule completely."

Fitz promised not to, but sure enough when Alya cried that night Fitz was already up and in her room before Jemma could tell him off, so when Jemma walked into the living room that morning to see Fitz passed on the couch, with Alya sleeping on his stomach, his arms protectively wrapped around her, Jemma smiled and shook her head, "Insomniacs," she whispered as she left the room to go find Enoch. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow writing the Deke part hurt my soul, we really got no Bobo Fitz and Deke moments, which annoys me, but alas it was a lot of content to cram into that finale.  
> Thank you for all the hits, kudos, and comments!! When I started this I thought like at most 2 people would read it but it makes me happy to see all of of you giving me the time of day!


	7. A Bittersweet Celebration in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bets are being placed, will Alya be a talker like her mother, or will she be a late bloomer, not speaking many words like her father? All this betting gives them nostalgia and wistfulness for the team as they reminisce and imagine what it would be like if they were there.

"I'm telling you! This book says that most babies start talking from 12 months to 18 months, she turns a year old in a couple days, I guarantee you that she'll start talking in the next week!" Fitz yelled after Jemma as he chased Alya before she could get to the lab, which was not toddler proofed very well. He scooped her up and she screamed, "I gotchyou monkey!" Fitz went back to Jemma who sighed. 

"I think she'll be like you in the speaking aspect, I mean she has the curls, eyes, and ears, even has your weird obsession with gadgets, all she need is to be a late bloomer with talking and we'll have a mini Leopold James Fitz-Simmons." Using his full name to get him on edge. 

Fitz hiked Alya up on his hip, and rolled his eyes at her use of his full name, "Well she has your laugh, smile, freckles, and nose. Laugh is related to talking so all we need is her talking a million miles a minute to be a mini Simmons." Purposefully using his old nickname for her, even though that technically wasn't her last name anymore. 

Jemma crossed her arms, "You _know_ that's not how it works."

"Well do you want to bet on it?" Fitz replied, smirking, she never went for bets. 

"Sure." Fitz's mouth dropped open, he quickly shut it to cover him being surprised. "Looser has to change every single one of Alya's diapers for a week."

"Well monkey," Fit turned his attention to Alya, tickling her, "Your just gonna have to talk for me, can you say monkey?" 

Jemma rolled her eyes at that, "Is it a deal?" 

"It's a deal," Fitz said, kissing her as their agreement instead of shaking hands. 

Jemma giggled, "You know this is something the team would do, placing bets." Fitz and Jemma smiled a melancholy smile, they both loved their time as their little family, soaking up all the time they had with Alya, but sometimes they missed their team, wondering what they would've done when finding out about Jemma being pregnant, and then meeting Alya as a newborn, and hearing about all her milestones.

"Yah it is, I mean I'm pretty sure they started placing bets on when we'd get together back in the bus days."

Jemma looked up at him shocked, "They did what?!"

Fitz chuckled, "Honestly you call yourself a spy," he imitated her rolling her eyes at him as she so often does. "I'm pretty sure May won."

Jemma sighed, "I'm just glad she won instead of Hunter or Daisy, they would probably be insufferable about it."

"Speaking of Hunter," Fitz started, "When Coulson was going through the video footage, he found the feed of when we had our first kiss in the lab, and uh, apparently they had a whole screening."

Jemma was starting to blush, "How long have you known this?"

"Well," Fitz scratched his ear, "they all got quite drunk and then Hunter came and told me everything, that night."

"And you never thought to share this information?!" Jemma exclaimed. 

"Well then we got kidnapped, and then once we did get together it seemed so unimportant that I just forgot about it I guess..." Fitz trailed off, searching Jemma's face for clues if she was mad. 

Jemma just started laughing, Fitz joined in and then soon the family of three were all laughing together, Alya not wanting to be left out. "I miss them," Jemma admitted once they had calmed down, sinking into Fitz's chest.

"I know, me too," he said kissing Jemma's forehead, "But we'll see them soon, for now, we've got this little one to worry about." Fitz pretended to drop Alya which made her scream in delight. "Come on let's go play," he said half to Alya, half to Jemma in an attempt to get her out of her daze. 

Jemma smiled fondly at the two matching set of twinkling blue eyes looking at her, _how had she gotten so lucky,_ she wondered. If you had told her 15 years ago that the boy who dropped his text books to look at the time on his watch, that she had immediately friend zoned, would become her best friend, then her boyfriend, then her husband, then become parents together, she didn't know if she'd believe you, that her life could turn out so perfect. Sure, there were some bumps in the road and they were technically in space, running away from robots but Jemma was still so grateful for what her life had turned out to be. She followed Fitz and Alya to Alya's bedroom, where they were starting on stacking blocks, she sat down and pulled Alya on her lap, "Don't make the tower too elaborate," she reminded Fitz.

"I would never!" he said, handing a block to Alya. "So," Fitz leaned back on his hands, "Do you want to make a bet on what her first words are going to be?" 

Jemma rolled her eyes, "One bet is bad enough, we will not be doing more." 

"Here you go Alya," he said, passing her another block for her clumsy little hands to try and stack it on top of the other one. "Good job monkey!" Fitz said when she got the small tower to stay, "Can you say that, can you say monkey?" Fitz prompted. 

"Ajeidb!" Alya squealed. 

"Close enough," Fitz smiled. 

~~~~~

It was late at night and Jemma and Fitz had gone to bed. Jemma was nestled in the crook of Fitz's arm, her head laying on his chest. Jemma was rubbing Fitz ring and whispered, "Can you believe Alya is a year old tomorrow?" 

"Technically today, and no, it seems like just yesterday we found out you were pregnant, let alone a year since having her." Fitz kissed the top of Jemma's head. 

"We're going to be in so much trouble once Daisy finds out that we had Alya without her, and that she missed her first birthday," Jemma sighed wistfully, missing her friend.

"I miss her too, I miss them all."

"We have to take a video later today for all of them," Jemma reminded him.

"I already have the D.W.A.R.F.S charged and ready." The two laid in a comfortable silence, neither of them able to fall asleep. "Bloody hell, your parents and my mum don't even know we're married, let alone have a daughter!" Fitz exclaimed, sudden realization dawning on him. 

"We'll make sure to make a trip to each of them and try to explain." Jemma reassured. 

"Yep, how we have a daughter that was born in 2020 but is somehow also 3 in 2019, sounds perfectly reasonable." Fitz groaned, knowing his mum would never let him live this down. 

"They'll just be excited to meet her, and know that we're alive," Jemma gently added on.

"She's just growing up so fast, I want her to slow down," Fitz admitted.

"There he is," Jemma said, still rubbing his wedding ring.

"She's a year old, and she hasn't seen a tree, the sun, or even the grass!" Fitz exclaimed. 

"I know, we just had-" Jemma bit back a sob, "to make some sacrifices."

"Just because _we_ had to, doesn't mean that she should have to suffer from it!" Fitz took a deep breath to calm himself down, "I just want her to have the most perfect life."

"I do too," Jemma said softly, bittersweet tears rolling down her face on to Fitz's shirt. Fitz look down in concern to see his wife silently crying into his shirt, Fitz quickly sat up and pulled her on to him, both of them comforting the other. "We're done Fitz, it's our last mission, I can't do this anymore." 

"I know Jem, I can't do this anymore either," Fitz said while holding her. The couple stayed like that for awhile, comforting each other knowing that after this one last mission, they were done forever. They eventually fell asleep like that, Jemma clutching on to Fitz's shirt, curled around him. Fitz sitting up against the backboard, holding Jemma as tightly to him as possible. 

~~~~~

Jemma woke up first, like always, bleary eyed, and trying to figure out why she and Fitz had fallen asleep in such a weird angle. The events of the night came back to her and she curled closer to Fitz for his body warmth. Jemma smiled, "It's Alya's birthday," she whispered to herself. Normally Jemma woke up and got up alone, taking the early morning shift with Alya and letting Fitz sleep in, but she decided to ignore their unspoken agreement-it was a special day after all. 

Jemma kissed Fitz, she had learned long ago that he was normally less cranky in the mornings if he woke up kissing her. Fitz's eyes fluttered, "Mornin'," his Scottish accent thick from just waking up. 

"It's Alya's birthday, come on," Jemma said, getting up and holding out her hand to help him up. Fix groaned but got up without complaint. After the couple got ready they headed over to Alya's room. When the couple opened Alya's door, Alya quickly got up with the help from the bars of the crib, her still sleepy blue eyes, lighting up when seeing her parents. Jemma rushed over and picked her up, "Happy birthday, sweetie!" Alya just put her head against Jemma's chest, not awake enough to be excited. 

Fitz came behind Jemma, kissing the tops of both of their heads in one swift motion, "Happy birthday monkey."

"We're going to make sure you have the best birthday ever!" Jemma promised.

"I mean it's not like she knows what's happening, or like she'll ever remember it," Fitz pointed out. 

"Fitz."

"Yes, right, best birthday ever!" Jemma resumed their usual morning routine with Fitz yawning and falling asleep on the floor, leaned against the wall. After that was finished up the little family left the room, heading for the kitchen, running into Enoch on the way. 

"Aejduo!" Alya exclaimed when seeing her Uncle Enoch, having mostly woken up by now. 

"Hello Alya Fitz-Simmons, congratulations on almost one year of not dying!" Fitz opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but Jemma shot him a look and he thought better of it. 

~~~~~

What had been a rather perfect day was winding down and Alya was on the floor alone, playing with her stuffed monkey, "I wished we could've done more, our supplies are limited." Jemma admitted to Fitz, both of them watching their daughter with so much love. 

"Don't worry, once the team hears of her she'll get a lifetime's worth of presents in the span of three days," Fitz joked, both of them knowing how overboard their family got.

Jemma walked over to Alya and crouched down next to her, "Do you want to go watch the stars before bed?" Alya babbled gibberish, and Jemma laughed, taking that as a yes. Jemma picked her up and the couple walked over to the cockpit to point out different stars to Alya. 

"And that star over there," Fitz pointed, "is-"

He was cut off by Alya babbling, "Star!" in the most adorable British accent. Alya giggled like she had just said the funniest thing in the world and started clapping.

Jemma and Fitz beamed, "Honey, could you say that again, star?" Jemma asked.

"Star!" Alya squealed.

Fitz took Alya from Jemma's arms and spun her around, "Good job monkey! That is a star!" Turning to Jemma he smirked, "Have fun with the diaper changes." 

Jemma rolled her eyes, but as both of them already knew was going to happen they equally split the job of changing her diapers like always in the next week. During the next week Alya quickly learned all the basic words, she was a fast learner, being the child of the two youngest graduates at the academy. The basic words of course including, mama, dada, monkey, Uncle Enoch (or Ucl nok!), song, and food. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys, gals, and non-binary fairies for the hits, comments, and kudos!! As always feel free to leave comments with what you would like to see in this work or prompts for separate one shots!


	8. A Home in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya Fitz-Simmons is now 15 months old, and becoming quite the rambunctious scamp. The couple will find out that a metal airplane, isn't really a great place to raise a toddler. 
> 
> Thanks to @Simmppaa for the suggestion for this chapter!

"Hey Enoch, can you watch Alya for an hour or so? Fitz needs my help on something and apparently it can't wait till her nap time, and she's quite a handful now, so we can't just leave her in the lab while we're working on it." Jemma asked, cutting herself off from continuing to speak. Alya Fitz-Simmons was now 15 months old, able to understand simple sentences and say certain words to get what she wants. She had already learned that all she needed to say was "Dada" in front of her dad and he would do whatever she wanted, much to Jemma's dismay. 

"Of course Jemma Fitz-Simmons," Enoch nodded his head. 

Jemma bent down and picked up Alya, "Okay Alya, mommy and daddy have to work, but Uncle Enoch is going to look after you. Can you be a good girl for him?"

Alya nodded and smiled, her arms reaching out to Enoch, "Ucl nok!" she squealed, and Enoch took her, Enoch still didn't really understand children, they were very helpless but he still loved Alya Fitz-Simmons a lot, who didn't?

Jemma smiled at the two and turned around to go to the lab, she walked in and effortlessly slipped into tandem working with Fitz. She loved their dynamic and their life together, but there was just something special about working in the lab together, back to where they began all those years ago. "Did you have trouble letting go of her?" Fitz teased.

Jemma was jarred back into the present, "No. Enoch has been studying humans for centuries, in theory he should be the perfect babysitter."

"Theory?" Fitz raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, he normally treats her as a regular human when speaking to her," Jemma started. 

"Jems, just because he doesn't speak to her in a baby voice, doesn't mean he's not capable of watching Alya for an hour." Jemma shook herself out of her worries and allowed herself to get lost in the easy harmony of the dynamic duo of Fitzsimmons working in a lab together. The couple were nearing the end of their self-allotted hour of working in the lab when they heard an ear piercing scream. 

"Alya," Jemma breathed. Call it parents intuition, but the couple immediately knew it was Alya and that it wasn't a play scream, something had gone wrong. The two dropped what they were working on and immediately rushed to try and find Alya and Enoch. 

They found Alya screaming with her hand to her head and a very perplexed Enoch holding a first aid kit, Jemma rushed to Alya, sitting down and pulling her on her lap. "What's wrong, sweetie?" Alya kept screaming. 

"What the hell happened?!" Fitz demanded to know, Jemma was too preoccupied to tell him off for cussing. 

"Alya Fitz-Simmons was running and then ran into a wall, I tried to treat her but she doesn't seem to be bleeding, so I don't understand why she's screaming," Enoch stated.

"She doesn't know how to react to pain! She's barely a year old!" Fitz screamed at Enoch, he took a breath and sat down next to Jemma and Alya, very concerned at his daughter being hurt. "Just go get some ice," he muttered to Enoch. 

"Sweetie, where does it hurt? Can you point to where it hurts?" Jemma asked, stroking Alya's hair to calm her down. Alya continued crying but after a few moments managed to raise her hand to point to her head. Jemma took evaluation of the wall she must have bumped into, metal, just like every other wall in the Zephyr, Jemma prayed that she didn't have a concussion but kept a brave face for her little girl. Jemma went against all she knew about science and decided to lie to her daughter, "Did you know that if I kiss it it'll make it better?" Fitz gave her the strangest look that meant, 'What do you think you're doing?!' but she ignored it. 

Alya stopped screaming, intrigued at the concept, but tears were still rolling down her cheeks as she shook her head. Jemma continued, "So if both daddy and I kissed it, I'm sure it would be all healed up by dinner time! Do you want us to try it?"

"Yah," Alya replied meekly.

Jemma kissed her head, "Better?" Alya nodded, and Jemma and Fitz both sighed a breath of relief, that meant it probably wasn't a concussion.

"Dada!" Alya insisted. Fitz took Alya from Jemma's arms.

"Can you point to where it hurts again, I forgot," Fitz said over dramatically. Alya pointed to the other side of her head. Jemma and Fitz let out another sigh of relief, knowing that if she had already forgotten where it hurt, it wasn't a concussion. Fitz kissed the new spot, "There, feel better monkey?" 

Alya sniffled and half nodded. Fitz squeezed her tight, "I love you. Now why don't we go get a special treat?" Fitz carried her to the kitchen and surprisingly she stayed in his arms, laying her head on his shoulder, not wiggling about as she so often does.

Jemma was just getting up to go join them when Enoch came back holding ice, "Thanks Enoch, but we got it under control, she was just being dramatic." Enoch nodded. "We don't blame you, that could have happened with any one of us, and she just needed her mom." she explained, she still wasn't used to Enoch only having one facial expression, and often felt the need to explain herself. 

"Of course, a mother and her child's bond is in most cases, very tight," Enoch nodded his head and left. 

Jemma smiled at Enoch and walked into the kitchen to see Fitz in front of the pantry. Alya was still in her father arms, her brilliant blue blue eyes twinkling again, only the remnants of bloodshot eyes as proof of her meltdown. As soon as the trio finished their snack Alya was running around again, food smeared on her face, with Fitz chasing her. Fitz scooped her up, both of them laughing, she couldn't get very far in the tight quarters they lived in, and once again Jemma felt a tug at her heart, longing for the days when they can run around outside with Alya, showing her the world, not just the stars. Fitz distracted Alya with her toy monkey as he walked over to Jemma, "What do you think?" he asked her in an urgent, hushed voice.

"Well she's stopped crying, she hasn't thrown up, and she wasn't unconscious, so I think it's safe to say it was just a bump on the head, nothing more," there was still an edge in her voice, scared that she had missed something, "But we'll have to keep an eye on her, just in case."

Fitz nodded and turned his attention to their daughter, vowing to never let her out of his sight again. 

~~~~~

When Fitz put Alya to bed that night, he didn't want to leave her. She had fallen asleep in his arms and all he had to do was lower her carefully into her crib and he'd see her again in the morning, just like they had done countless times before then. He thought back to that afternoon when he heard that blood curdling scream, he had dropped his wrench on the lab desk before him, and ran out just behind Jemma, barely registering what she had said. He had feared the worst as he so often has done in the past with his daughter. 

When he saw Alya, lying there on the ground, crying in pain, Fitz's heart hurt so much. Jemma was faster to getting to their little girl, but he knew that Jemma would be the best for the job, she was a doctor and her mother. But then when he saw a confused Enoch standing over Alya, not helping her or comforting her, he felt a weird feeling, almost anger at him for letting this happen to his little girl, like it was his fault that the wall was there, even though Fitz knew it wasn't, he still snapped at him. He had felt bad about it later, but no one hurt his daughter, directly, or indirectly. 

When she had been happily giggling later Fitz was so relieved he could've cried in happiness, but he still vowed to never let his eyes off of her in the moment, a silly thing if you thought about it, quite unconventional if you think about it, and here he was not even 24 hours later, about to break that promise. No matter how much he told himself that it was silly he still couldn't get himself to turn around and leave his little girl defenseless. Fitz sat down against the wall that was across from Alya's crib-a perfect view of his little monkey. A little later, he looked at the time and sighed, Jemma would be getting worried soon. Fitz got up and brushed himself off. "I love you monkey, good night." he whispered before he turned his back on Alya and closed the door. 

Jemma looked at him relieved when he walked in the living room, "Everything alright? I was just going to check on you." 

"Yah," he lied. "She just didn't want to go to bed, kept saying "story!" or "song!" to try to go to bed later." 

Jemma gave him a quizzical look, she had known him long enough to know when he was lying, but she decided to let it go for the moment. "And of course you gave it to her." 

"Everytime," Fitz smirked, as he sat down next to her, Jemma automatically curling up next to him, Fitz holding on tight to her. 

~~~~~

Jemma half woke up in the middle of the night and decided to snuggle up closer to Fitz, but he wasn't there, he was on one of his insomniac sprees again. Jemma sighed and put on one of Fitz's old cardigans, walking out determined to drag him back to bed. She first went to the lab, as that was where he normally was. Sure enough he was sketching some plans with a cup of most-likely-already-cold cup of tea. She wordlessly rested her head on his shoulder. Fitz jumped a bit, startled but quickly recovered and put an arm around her waist, "What are you doing up?" Fitz asked her, planting a kiss on top of her head.

"I could ask you the same thing," Jemma replied, looking at the plans that he had drawn up, they didn't look like they had anything to do with what they needed to complete in order for their whole saving the world plan to work.

"You know, same old, had an idea, needed to write it down," Fitz waved off. 

"What is the idea?" 

"Baby proofing the Zephyr," Fitz responded, looking down at his shoes, embarrassed. 

"Fitz," Jemma rolled her eyes. 

"Everywhere you look is metal! We know for a fact that she'll run into something again, and next time we might not get so lucky!" Fitz protested. 

"And how are you planning on baby proofing every single surface in this place?" Jemma asked, her hands on her hip. 

"Uh, yah, I haven't figured that part out yet," Fitz sputtered out.

"She's going to run into things! That's what toddlers do, and our job is to do what we can to keep her from doing it as much as possible, but we know that she'll run into more things, but there is just no way we are baby proofing the entirety of the Zephyr." Jemma reasoned out. 

Fitz scrapped his diagrams, "Yah your right... It, it just killed me to hear her screaming like that. I just wish she had space to run around, it's what she deserves."

"I know, but for now, this is home. Anywhere with you two is home. And hopefully someday soon picnics in Perthshire will become the new norm, but for now we're her home and this is all she knows, she won't even know what she's missing." 

"So many picnics that we'll get sick of them," Fitz chuckled lightly, rubbing Jemma's back. Fitz cleared his throat, "When I tried to go to bed I heard your 'No' from the bottom of the ocean again." This was an often occurrence for him, not as much recently, but it was one of his more common nightmares.

"Oh Fitz, why didn't you wake me?" they promised each other to always wake the other if they had a nightmare. 

"Needed to do something with my hands. It was extra bad this one," Fitz paused for a long moment, getting his thoughts together, Jemma waited patiently, "It was your 'No' and your screams when Ward was torturing you and it was-" she noticed his bad hand shaking again, and she sucked in a breath knowing that it must have really shook him up to make the old injury flare up, " it was, was, mixed with Alya's screams." 

Jemma cupped his face, "Fitz, look at me," she waited for his blue eyes that she loved so much to meet her own eyes before continuing, "I'm right here, I'm okay and right here next to you. Alya's okay and just in another room, do you need to go see for yourself that we're both here and okay?" Jemma said, concern in her eyes. 

Fitz searched her face and finally nodded, "Yah."

"Okay." Jemma took his hand and led him to Alya's room, carefully and quietly opening the door, pushing Fitz in, still holding his hand. Jemma squeezed his hand to remind him that she was still here too. There was their beautiful little girl, the stars in their sky, peacefully sleeping, unaware that her parents had just come in to watch her. Jemma looked up at Fitz's softened face, full of love and relief. 

"We're here," she whispered. 

"My home," he whispered back. He allowed himself to be dragged back to bed, Jemma wrapping her arm over his chest to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere, his arm around her shoulder, to remind himself that he's home, he's with her, he's with their daughter, their home. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for @Simmppaa of "Alya has started walking/running and hits her head and Fitzsimmons reaction for that."  
> I had fun writing overprotective dad! Fitz again :)  
> Thank you all for reading this!! Even just seeing that people are reading this has made my heart happy, so feel free to leave kudos or comments or don't!  
> As always feel free to leave suggestions for this work or suggestions for other fics/one shots!


	9. Three Scientists in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're skipping ahead in time! Alya has just turned 3 and Fitz-Simmons are drinking in every moment they have with her before they have to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have made it to the flashback that we see in 7x13!  
> (Takes place before, during, and after the star gazing flashback in 7x13)

"What is it mama?" The very intelligent 3 year old could often tell if her parents were sad, she had inherited that from her mother.

Jemma smiled melancholy at her daughter, proud to have such a perceptive little girl, "Nothing my sweet girl, I just love you so much." 

Alya launched herself into Jemma's arms "I love you too!" 

Jemma lost herself in the moment, stroking Alya's light blonde hair, inhaling her scent, not wanting to leave her or let her go. Alya squirmed out of her mom's arms after the hug had gone on for a little bit, "Let's go wake daddy, shall we?" 

Alya gasped excitedly, her blue eyes twinkling as she went to her parent's room, "Shhh," she warned her mother. Jemma stifled a giggle at how serious her daughter was being and put a finger to her own lips. Alya jumped onto her sleeping dad, screaming, "GOOD MORNING!" Fitz groaned and hid under the covers, nothing could change him not being a morning person-not even having a kid. "Daddy?" Alya asked concerned. 

Fitz whispered back, "Daddy's sleeping." 

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" she screamed. Fitz shoved the covers off of himself and grabbed Alya, tickling her, as she screamed happily. 

"You think it's funny to wake your daddy don't you, monkey? Well it doesn't look so funny now does it?" Fitz asked, still tickling Alya relentlessly. 

Between giggles and screams Alya gasped, "Still funny." Fitz gasped in mock horror as he continued tickling her. "Mama help me!" Alya squealed.

"Alright you two, I'm coming in!" Jemma joined her husband and her daughter on the bed, attacking Fitz to try and get him off Alya. 

"You think you have what it takes to defeat me?!" Fitz bellowed dramatically. 

"No!" Alya squealed. 

"But I do," Jemma smirked. 

"You do, do you?" Fitz asked, his eyebrows raised as he continued tickling Alya and fighting off Jemma's tickles, but then suddenly Jemma trapped him in a passionate kiss, and he forgot all about their little tickle fight, releasing Alya, and wrapping his hands around Jemma. While Fitz's eyes were closed Jemma winked at Alya and Alya launched herself on Fitz, taking him off guard. Jemma and Alya tickled Fitz with all of their might until he was wheezing, "Okay, okay you girls win." Alya and Jemma cheered, high-fiving. "Do I get a consolation prize?"

"Of course daddy!" Alya snuggled into his side and kissed his cheek. 

Jemma sat next to Fitz, leaning her head on his shoulder, their daughter between them, content with how their life had turned out, the last four years had been some of the best years of her life and she didn't want it to end. She heard soft snoring next to her, she turned her head and realized that Fitz had fallen asleep again, she smiled at Alya and nodded mischievously. 

Once Alya got permission from her mom to jump on Fitz again, she pounced, Fitz groaned, "I'm getting up, I'm getting up!" he repeated when she didn't stop. Fitz stood up, Alya in his arms, Jemma smiled at the daddy-daughter duo, Alya was very much a daddy's girl, and Jemma loved watching them together. "You coming hon'?" Fitz asked. 

Jemma nodded, and followed the two from a distance, but she heard what Alya had whispered to Fitz, quite loudly, "Dada, why is mummy so sad?"

Fitz risked a quick glance back at Jemma, smiling, both of them thinking about how proud they were to have a daughter who so dearly cared about her loved ones, "You know how we tell you the stories about mommy and daddy's friends? Aunt Daisy, who you were named after, Uncle Mack, Grandpa Coulson, Aunt Melinda, who you were also named after!" Fitz poked the little girl in the stomach, and continued, "Uncle Deke, and Aunt Yoyo?" he finished. 

"What about Uncle Hunter and Aunt Bobbi?" Alya asked.

Fitz sighed, "Yes them too. Well we need to go and bring them back from where they've been so they can meet you! And remember when we told you last week that mummy was going to have to leave to go bring them back?" The couple had introduced the thought of Jemma leaving to Alya weeks before they were scheduled to carry out the plan. Alya had never been farther then a yell away from her parents so they both knew Alya, and them if they were being honest would have a lot of separation anxiety, so they were trying to soften the blow by reminding her every few days. 

"I don't want her to go!" Alya cried into Fitz's shoulder.

"I know sweetie," Fitz ran his fingers through her hair, "Neither does mummy, monkey, so that's why she's sad, I'm sad too, but," he lowered his voice so only Alya could hear him, and not Jemma who was listening in, "We have to be brave for her, can you do that?"

Alya nodded solemnly, determined to be brave for her mother, "When is mama leaving?" the ever inquisitive child asked. 

Fitz glanced at Jemma, who was clearly sad, "We don't know when exactly yet, but you'll be the first to know when we do, okay?" Alya nodded again, and Fitz put her down for her to go run and say good morning to her Uncle Enoch. Fitz then walked over to Jemma and hugged her close to him. "It'll be okay, I promise, but we have to make a decision on when we're doing it."

"I know." The two stayed like that for a long time, not ever wanting to let go, they had been separated by time and space many times, so they should've been prepared to do it again. But none of those torturous times prepared them for what this felt like. They had lived together with their only worry being if they were good parents and that Alya would be alright, for so long. They were able to soak up time with each other without being guilty about stealing their happy moments while their team was out risking their lives, they had gotten greedy with their time, and now they couldn't bare to part with each other voluntarily, let alone leave their daughter defenseless. Although Fitz had designed the pod specifically so that it could withstand anything and shield Alya from anything, only opening at his or Jemma's hand or-god forbid-Piper's hand. When Enoch had told them that _'This will be the hardest thing you have ever done,'_ they hadn't really believed him, but now knowing what was at risk, what they were fighting for and what they had to do, they knew it was the truest thing the chronicom had ever said. They split apart briefly when Fitz felt someone tugging on his pant leg, he smiled and lifted Alya up, between him and Jemma. Jemma rested her head on Fitz's chest, stroking Alya's hand as she whispered, "Let's not make a decision until you've finished." 

~~~~~

It was the next day and Alya was down for her nap of the day, Jemma was also resting, and Fitz was working on his last tweaks to the time drive, and then he'd be done, and he and Jemma would be forced to carry out the plan, they were already 2 years behind schedule. Part of him wanted to smash it so he would have to start over and they would have more time, but whenever he got that urge, he went back to the fantasy he often had, the three of them on a blanket in the grass, on those rare warm days in Perthshire, the sun beating down on Alya, making the freckles that speckled on her nose more prominent. Him laying on Jemma's lap, while Jemma read a book with Alya being fascinated by every single living thing. Or the three of them running around in the grass, care free and happy, not that he wasn't happy now, he was probably the happiest he'd been in a long time. 

"Dada?" Fitz turned around to see his daughter standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes having just woken up from her nap, clutching Mr. Monkey, her favorite stuffed animal.

"Yah monkey?" 

"Can I help?" Fitz heart felt like it could explode, he loved that his daughter had a fascination with all things science and loved to help him, it made him work slower, when he was answering all of her questions and carefully explaining everything that he was doing, but he couldn't care less, he was spending time with his daughter doing the thing that he was passionate about, something that she had clearly taken a shine to as well. Although he wouldn't count her out of biology quite yet, he was sure that once they got to Perthshire, he would find a dead cat on the kitchen table, being dissected by both Alya and Jemma, the science shine in their eyes. 

"Of course, come here." Alya ran and launched herself at her dad, Fitz grunted but he picked her up and put her on his knee. 

"What are you working on?" Alya asked. 

"Finishing up the time drive." They worked together, Fitz being very careful on what he was letting her do, and meticulously explaining to her what he was doing, to giving her careful instructions on what to do when he deemed it safe enough for Alya to do it. He was no expert on three year olds, but he was quite confident that no other three year old would be able to understand him or help him, and he was very proud of her for that. After an hour or so, with a quick break for tea thanks to Jemma who had woken up from her nap, Fitz let out a sharp breath. 

"What is it?"

"I think... we're done," Fitz whispered, then kissing the top of her head. 

"Really?!" Alya asked eager, excited to have helped her daddy finish a project. 

A more solemn Fitz forced on a smile and replied, "Yah! Why don't you go and tell mama?"

"Okay!" Fitz helped Alya off his lap and she sprinted out the door to find her mum, and he chuckled and followed her. 

"Mama!" Alya jumped up beside Jemma on the couch, "Daddy and I finished the time drive!" 

Jemma felt her heart sink, she knew that was the only thing Fitz had left to do, "Did you now?" Alya proudly nodded, and Jemma ruffled her hair, "Well I'm sure daddy really needed your help to finish such a project, and I'm sure you were the best little lab partner."

Alya perked up, "Can we go star gazing?" she asked excited, she had inherited her mother's love of stars. 

"Of course, darling," she put her forehead to Alya's and carried her over to the cockpit. Fitz was watching his girls, and was loosely following from afar, love and adoration clearly showing on his face. When he got to the cockpit, the girls were already there, Alya in Jemma's lap. 

"Are boys allowed to this party?" he smirked, at the entrance. 

"What do you think, Alya? Are we letting him in?" Jemma asked, smiling at her husband. 

Alya pretended to think about it and then she broke into a wide grin, "Of course daddy!" 

"Phew!" Fitz pretended to wipe the non-existent nerves of sweat off and sat next to them in the other chair. They spent the rest of the day laughing together as a family, watching the stars, playing games like who could remember which star was which. The whole day the adults of the Fitz-Simmons family had spent inside their heads, worrying about the future and the time they had left, but they realized that they could do that at any point, but what really matters is the memories, because you don't get a second chance at making memories. Fitz and Jemma laughed at Alya's retorts, at 3 she had already inherited her parent's level of sass, and found themselves giggling well past Alya's bedtime, she fell asleep in Jemma's arms having spent some of the afternoon and minus a break for dinner, all of the evening watching the stars with her parents. 

"She's asleep," Jemma whispered. 

"Lot's of excitement for one day," he chuckled quietly, getting up out of his chair and stretching. He bent down and took Alya from her mother's arms, careful not to disturb her. 

"Fitz," Jemma urgently whispered, holding out Mr. Monkey, "She'll be quite distressed if she doesn't have that with her when she wakes up." They both thought to the time when Alya had fallen asleep on the couch, the monkey falling out of her arms and beneath the couch when Fitz had picked her up and put her to bed, the couple were both woken by crying at 5 in the morning, thinking it was an emergency, when an actuality, Alya just needed her monkey. 

Fitz shuddered and awkwardly picked up the monkey with his free hand, "No, we do not want that," he hissed back.

Fitz gently set Alya down on her bed, tucking her in silently, trying not to move her too much. He triple checked that Mr. Monkey was nestled in the crook of her arm and then relaxed, he would not be waking up at 5 am tomorrow. Fitz brushed some of her hair out of her eyes and kissed her forehead softly, "G'Night, monkey." 

~~~~~

"So... Jemma... Alya and I finished the time drive earlier and we haven't really discussed it yet." Fitz and Jemma were laying on their bed, in their usual position with Jemma nestled in his arm, laying on his chest, her arm wrapped around his chest. 

Jemma sighed, they had managed to avoid this conversation for so long, even watching a couple episodes of Doctor Who after Alya went to bed, teasing and laughing like nothing was amiss. "Can we just stay here forever? We can go when Alya's 16, a perfectly reasonable age for her to be on her own if anything-" Jemma sucked in a sob, "If anything were to happen to us." 

"Jemma, look at me," they both rolled on to their sides so they could see each other, "you and I both know that Alya deserves to meet other people! She deserves to meet her family and to see the sun and feel the grass and learn about all things biology." 

"I know she does, I just, don't want to say good bye just yet." 

"When you do say good bye you will be right back to her, she won't even know that you were gone! I know that you will be away from her, but you have to be strong. I wish I could go instead of you, but my mind isn't strong enough, yours is, and you just have to be strong enough to carry out the mission so you can come back to me and Alya." Fitz reassured her. 

"I don't know if I can Fitz." Jemma looking at him in the dark of night, him barely being able to make out her features he was instantly transported back to a time when they were much younger and she had admitted to him that she thought she was going to die, that she didn't think she would be able to save herself before she was killed by an alien virus, and his heart had stopped for a moment, he felt the same way now. He had told her there was hope even when he didn't think there was, a first for him with her normally being the hopeful one. 

So, he lied the same lie, "You can, you're strong enough." But he knew Jemma couldn't leave Alya willingly and still be functional for the team, knowing what she needed to know and helping where she was needed to help. 

"One more week," Jemma whispered to him faintly. "One week and then we'll do it, no more putting it off." 

"Are you sure?" Fitz asked. 

"No, but it has to be done, for Alya." 

"For Alya," Fitz agreed. "I love you Jemma." 

"I love you too." The couple drifted off to sleep eventually, both determined to make this week a memorable one. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I did quite a time jump... I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do with Alya in her early stages, and wanted to focus on the version of Alya that we see in the show. If you people still have requests for earlier Alya chapters, I can still write it and just insert it in before this one, I was just running out of ideas, so totally am not opposed!!!  
> There's some debate at how old Alya is when we first see her, (as far as I know, it could be canon I just didn't find anything) the actress who played her was 4, but Iain De Caestecker said it was a 4 year period that they were in space, considering the pregnancy, she would be a little over 3 with that math. So I just pretty much did a close my eyes and whatever my finger lands on I'll do sort of thing!  
> Also I know I just now inserted Mr. Monkey, but I did mention Enoch bringing monkey stuffed animals at one point so we're just going to go with that in the 2 year gap of these chapters, she picked out her favorite stuffed animal and christened him Mr. Monkey.  
> Again thank you to everyone who have been reading this work! Feel free to leave comments or kudos!


	10. The Last Day in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitz-Simmons Family say their goodbyes, hoping and praying that it'll only be a couple hours tops for Alya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Takes place during and after the 7x11 and 7x13 flashbacks)

The next week passed by quickly, much to Fitz and Jemma's dismay, but they tried their best put on a facade for Alya and tried to live in the moment, knowing that this could be their last memories of Alya. Suddenly the day was upon them and Fitz knew what he had to do. Fitz and Jemma had woken up early to take care of last minute details so Alya was still asleep. The couple was in their living room and Fitz brought it up, the thing he had been silently thinking about for years, but too afraid to bring it up to Jemma. "Jemma, I think we need to make some last minute changes to the implant." Fitz squeezed his eyes shut, he couldn't bare to see Jemma after what he had just suggested.

"Why? You said it yourself, it's perfect," Jemma said, confused.

"I think we should make you forget about Alya," he quickly blurted out, Fitz rushed to explain himself before she completely shut down the idea, "If they look into your mind, and see that we had a daughter, they'll know that there was only one option for us to do that would guarantee her safety, and that we'd do anything to protect her. They'll know where we are!" 

"No," she said firmly, with her hands on her hips, "this isn't what the implant was built to do."

"We have no choice," Fitz forced himself to say.

"It was supposed to forget your location, that's all!" Jemma said, raising her voice. 

"I know, but that was before we knew."

"Not this, never this," Jemma said, coming closer to Fitz.

"You have to be strong, okay?" Fitz said referring to their earlier conversation, "And if you remember, you won't be able to be strong, to do what you have to do." Jemma turned away from him as if she couldn't believe what he was suggesting, Fitz himself could hardly believe it. 

"You can't ask me to do this!" Jemma yelled, Fitz turned away and put his hands on his head, how was he asking a mother to forget her child? "Saying good-bye is hard enough!"

"Yah, but you won't remember what you've forgotten! You won't know!" Fitz reminded desperately. 

"But I'll feel the guilt, inside the guilt, for having left a part of me being torn away! I don't want to forget!" Jemma was in tears at this point, still screaming at him, and it broke Fitz's heart, "I don't want to forget! I don't want to forget!" 

Fitz tried to wrap her in a hug, "Hey, hey, hey it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay, I promise."

Jemma broke down against him, repeating the same thing over and over again, "I don't want to forget." Eventually Jemma stopped speaking and just stood there, clutching on to Fitz for dear life, her anchor for not forgetting anything, not the best four years of her life, where she was at peace for once, happy and carefree, spending her time loving Fitz and Alya. 

"Mama?" 

Jemma looked up and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, her daughter was standing in the doorway, still in her pj's, hair all rumpled and messy, holding Mr. Monkey limply at her side, Jemma couldn't love her more. "Hey sweetie, come here." Jemma bent down on her knees and held her arms out, Alya rushed in to her arms and let her mom kiss her face and hold her tight, remembering what her daddy had said, _'We have to be brave for her, can you do that?'_ Alya was determined to make her dada proud, so she tried her hardest to be brave for her mama. She met her daddy's eyes while still wrapped in her mom's arms, 'Thank you monkey' he mouthed to her, giving her an encouraging smile. Jemma wiped away the last remaining remnants of her tears as her and Alya separated, "Let's go get you dressed!" As the two were leaving to go to Alya's bedroom, Jemma turned around to Fitz and took a deep breath, not believing what she was about to say, "Do it. Make the changes." 

Fitz's heart melted when he heard those words, he loved this woman, she was the bravest person he had ever met, he nodded to her and went to the lab to make the changes. But once he was in the lab, he paused, _Was this really the only choice?_ But deep down, he knew it was true, he had been running different scenarios and ways it would work for years now, but he always came back to this one, ensuring the safety of Alya and ensuring that Jemma would be able to carry out the mission. He rubbed his face in frustration at what he was about to make Jemma do, but he made the changes, all the while repeating a mantra in his head over and over again, _"We're fighting for a better life for Alya, the stars in our sky, our everything, we're doing this for her."_ Fitz finished tweaking it, Jemma would now forget most of the four years, or only bits and pieces of memories, to try and block out that she was ever pregnant and that they had their precious Alya. He joined his family in the living room, he kissed and hugged Jemma and whispered, "It's done." She nodded, blinking back tears and putting on a smile for Alya. 

~~~~~~

They had agreed to keep Alya on schedule so when Jemma put her down for her afternoon nap, she really didn't want to, wanting to spend every possible moment with her daughter. But, if she didn't put Alya down she'd be really cranky, just like her father, Jemma smiled as she tucked in Alya, kissing Aher forehead and left the room, rejoining Fitz in the hallway. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she put her head on his shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, Jemma." he whispered into her ear. Jemma smiled weakly. Fitz cleared his throat, "Jem, we should make that video," 

Jemma let out a sob, this was it, it was really happening today. They had been putting off making this video for weeks now, procrastinating it until the day of, and that was now. They made their way to the living room, Jemma sitting down on the couch as Fitz went to go set up the camera. He started the camera and walked to the couch and Jemma burrowed herself into his side, knowing that at least she didn't have go through this alone. "Alya," she started, "If you are watching this, one of us, or both of us didn't make it back." 

Fitz looked at Jemma as she was silently asking him to continue talking, she couldn't let herself speak. "Monkey, we never wanted to involve you in this. I guess I'll start from the beginning. You see, S.H.I.E.L.D was under attack by chronicoms, they are Uncle Enoch's people, but Enoch helped us escape, he helped us run away to the stars, where we would try to come up with a solution to the mess. And then-" 

Jemma cut him off, "And then you came along, darling, our sweet, sweet, Alya. You made both of us the happiest we'd ever been, you are the stars in our sky, our everything, you-" Jemma choked back a sob, "You are what we are fighting for." 

"We didn't want to say goodbye to you, we still don't, so we put it off. Working on our designs and plans every once in awhile but mainly focusing on you, watching you grow up, watching you be your own little person that we love so, so much." Fitz glanced at Jemma and she nodded at him to keep going, "The only way that we could see everything working and to keep you safe, was to send Jemma to meet our friends way back in 2019, but the chronicoms have the technology to look into people's minds. So, we had to design an implant that would-"

"Erase my memory of where you were hiding. And, because I had to purposely leave you, also erase my memory of you, the best thing in my life. Now, it is reversible, but in case something goes wrong, know that I did it for you, for you to see the sun and feel the grass and run around happily, and that it was the hardest choice I ever had to make. I love you Alya." Jemma breathed. 

"We know that whatever you end up doing with your life you will make us proud, we already are. I love you, monkey," Fitz smiled, a little pained at the thought of not being able to see his little girl grow up.

Fitz got up to turn off the camera and just before he shut it off, Jemma whispered, "Please forgive me," and she burst into tears. Fitz sat down on the couch and pulled her on to his chest, rubbing her back and burrowing his face in her hair, silent tears streaming down his cheeks and into her hair, his shirt getting wet with her tears, but neither of them cared, they needed the other one, now more then ever. A half hour later, both of them had stopped crying, but neither of them had moved, clutching the other before they would disappear through time and space. 

"Mama, Dada?" Alya asked.

Jemma sat up and tried to rub the tear streams off her face. "Alya come here," Fitz said softly, as he pulled her up on his lap. 

"Why are you two sad?" she asked innocently.

"We just don't want to say goodbye, because we love you too much," Jemma explained. 

"But we're going to have a great rest of the day okay?" Fitz told Alya. 

"What do you want to do sweetie?" Jemma asked trying to brush the hair out of Alya's face.

"Can we just cuddle?" the brave three year old asked meekly. Jemma and Fitz instantly broke into a smile, both so proud of their little girl. 

"Of course." The three sat there on the small little couch, all on top of each other, memorizing every little tiny thing about each other. They talked and giggled like there wasn't anything amiss, until the clock started ticking dangerously close to Alya's bedtime and they still hadn't gotten the containment pod ready. "Okay monkey, we have to go take care of a couple things, can you go and grab all of your toys and put it in the big white box for me?" Fitz asked. She nodded and ran out, Fitz and Jemma following slower, going to get blankets and pillows for her. When they went into the containment pod with the pillows and blankets, Alya was already there with her toys, and most importantly, Mr. Monkey.

"And this is where you'll be Alya, with all of your toys and blankets!" Jemma tried to explain excitedly, Fitz watched in the doorway of the containment pod, sighing, at knowing what they were going to do in an hour. He watched Jemma and Alya in admiration as they both tried to put on brave faces for each other, he was so proud of his girls. 

Like clockwork Enoch came and told them, "T-minus 60 minutes until re-entry." 

The couple nodded, and continued helping Alya rearrange her new space. Fitz made sure to leave a flash drive in the open with a letter addressed to Piper explaining everything and what to do in worst case scenario. "Alright Alya, it's almost bed time so why don't you go find Uncle Enoch and say good bye, I think he's in the chronicom lab." 

Alya nodded and ran out the room, yelling "I'll be right back!" 

~~~~~

"Uncle Enoch?" 

The chronicom turned around at what had become his new alias in the past 3 years, and he had loved every second of it. "Alya Fitz-Simmons!" 

"I'm going to miss you!" Alya said and ran forward to hug him. 

This family certainly loved their hugs, he decided that he their liked hugs long ago, so he was okay with it, "Don't worry Alya Fitz-Simmons, there is a 95% chance that you will see me again." 

Alya gave him a quizzical look, although she was very bright and understood many things that other 3 year olds didn't, she didn't understand what he had just said, he was about to explain but Alya turned her attention to the powered down chronicom of Coulson, that had been hidden underneath a tarp since it's completion, but now was out in the open. 

"Who is he?" Alya asked.

"That is a chronicom version of Phillip J Coulson," Enoch responded. 

Fitz and Jemma came forward from where they were listening in from the doorway, Fitz picked up Alya, "That is the greatest man I've ever known, you know Grandpa Coulson that we've told you stories of?" Fitz asked. 

"Yah!" Alya nodded ecstatically. 

"That's him." 

"Let's wake him up!" Alya squealed. 

"Oh no honey, we can't let him know about you just yet, we want you to be a surprise!" Jemma explained to Alya. 

"Oh, okay." 

~~~~~

The Fitz-Simmons' were all curled up in Alya's new temporary room, many bedtime stories were told, and then it was finally time to say goodbye. 

Jemma and Fitz stood up. Jemma tucked in Alya, smoothing out the blankets around her before saying her goodbyes. "I love you so much Alya, okay? And I may be gone for a long time, but I want you to know that it's okay to be scared, okay, because I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm scared too, but know that I love you so, so much my sweet girl." Fitz smiled at his girls, for him hopefully he'd only be gone for a couple of hours, assuming that everything went right, but for Jemma-it could be months before she ever gets to see them again, or remember Alya. Fitz just prayed and hoped that the Zephyr wouldn't ever time jump without her on it, he didn't want any of his team being left behind, but especially Jemma. 

Fitz shook himself out of his worries, and went to go say his goodbyes, "I love you monkey," he kissed her forehead, "I love you so much." 

"Daddy?" 

"Yah Alya?" 

"Can you and mommy sing the song?" Fitz and Jemma both smiled at their daughter. Alya had been wanting to go to sleep with bedtime stories lately, not her song. She only asked for her song after she woke up from a nightmare, when she needed her daddy to hold her and sing her to sleep. But she had never wanted both of them to sing it to her, she was trying not to show how scared she was. His brave, brave, brave girl Fitz thought. 

"Of course, but it's may be a little rough tonight, we haven't have much practice, can you forgive us?" Fitz asked. Alya smiled and giggled a little, nodding that it would be alright. 

Lies low the sun and shadows tall  
Across the fields are creepin  
And soon the big roond yella moon  
Will ower the brae come peepin  
Haste ye noo, lay by your barrow,  
Daddy'll mend the broken wheel the morrow  
Come ye in and get ye bedded doon,  
It's time me girl wis sleepin.

Come put ye on your wee white goon  
Afore the peat fire cheery,  
We'll gang the morn intae the toon   
For sweeties for my dearie  
Hush ye noo and stop your sighin  
Or Wee Willie Winkie'll come a-pryin  
Snug ye doon, me girl, and sleep ye soond  
For Mammy's sittin near ye.

She's played a day wi golden sand,  
And weary is my monkey  
Her curly head is noddin',  
and she's greetin for her Daddy.  
Wheesht ye noo, my brave wee fella,  
Tears'll weet your cosy cosy pillow  
Close your eyes while Mother sings to ye,  
My sleepy peedie monkey.

O softly, softly, ane and a’,  
And gentle wi your speakin  
She's turned his wee face tae the wa  
And ceased her plaintive weepin  
Dream ye sweet, my bonny fella,  
Eyes so blue and hair sae yella yella  
Hush noo, lightly let your footsteps fa,  
For my wee monkey's sleepin

The couple finished the song, it wasn't their best performance, they forgot the words at some point and started singing random things or reverting to humming, but they giggled through it and not one of them cared. Jemma kissed Alya's forehead, "Sweet dreams," she whispered. 

As Fitz closed the door behind them he whispered, "Good night, monkey." As soon as the couple walked far enough away from the containment pod so that Alya wouldn't be able to hear them Jemma broke down on to Fitz's chest. "You did so well, Jemma," he said while rubbing her back. 

"We will be landing in 3 minutes," Enoch came in and updated them.

"Jemma? Jemma, I have to go change, okay? It'll be okay, we'll be okay, she'll be okay," Fitz whispered into her ear before he left to go change. Jemma stood there silently, wringing her hands, she breathed in deeply in attempts to calm herself down before she spiraled into a full blown panic attack. By the time Fitz came back and enveloped her in another hug, she was mostly holding it together. "Are you ready?" he asked when it was time. Jemma nodded weakly, but she was lying, they both knew that they were lying but ready or not, they were doing this, it was too late to turn back now. Before Fitz stepped off the Zephyr to transport the pod that was holding their precious cargo, their daughter, he hugged her and kissed her and whispered, "Remember what we're fighting for." 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, this one hurt to write, specially that Enoch line...  
> I did have fun trying to place the really short flashback sequences together and what we were missing from the scenes, and what happened in between the scenes though!  
> As always feel free to leave suggestions or prompts for future chapters in this work or for separate one shots too!  
> Thank you for reading this it makes my heart happy to know that people are reading my work, so feel free to leave kudos or comments!


	11. Promises and Memories of the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz traveled through the quantum realm, thrilled that it had worked, but quickly he realizes that Jemma doesn't remember him and he only has a few stolen moments to keep a promise that he had made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Takes place during the 7x13 flashback and then also contains missing scenes from 7x13)

"That was quick," a very confused Flint said when he saw Fitzsimmons back in the jungle, in different clothes and landing a white containment pod in the small clearing. "How'd that thing get here so fast?"

Fitz opened the pod, knowing that his daughter was on the other side, hopefully sound asleep. "Oh come on, are you guys messing with time again?" Piper asked incredulously. Fitz felt a smile tug on his lips, she had no idea.

"It's complicated," Jemma explained, "But Fitz needs to wait in there so he can be transported through the quantum realm to an alternative timeline." 

"That doesn't sound complicated at all," Piper muttered, very clearly done with the way Fitzsimmons had left her in the dark. 

"While he's in there you need to guard it with your life. Like there's nothing more important in the world," there wasn't, at least not to them, Alya was their world. 

"No, we get it," Piper looked to Flint who nodded in confirmation. 

"No, you don't. If you keep this safe, I will give you anything you ask for in return, understand?" Jemma didn't care if Piper asked for something that was impossible, if Piper kept Alya safe, she would do anything for Piper. 

"Yah," Piper responded quietly, Fitz was sure she was wondering what was happening or what was so important, but now was not the time to explain. 

"If I'm not back by sun up, open it. You'll know what to do." 

Fitz powered on the time drive, "Okay, good to go." He turned to Jemma, "We're on the clock now." Fitz saw Jemma, who was trying so hard to keep it together, he wanted to switch places right then and there, but he knew they couldn't have this conversation in front of Piper and Flint and that it would be pointless because Jemma wouldn't let him put something in his brain that would potentially erase her and Alya from him forever, because of Ward, who would've thought that that one incident would come back to bite them 10 years later? He walked towards Jemma, "Jemma, for us it will be an instant." He was sure Piper and Flint thought he was talking about the three of them, but Jemma knew he was talking about himself and Alya, and that's all that mattered. He kissed Jemma quickly and wrapped her in a hug, whispering into her ear, "Stay strong." Fitz then went into the pod quickly, knowing that if he stayed there wrapped in Jemma's arms any longer he'd want to call it all of. He pressed the door closed, and then he just waited, and hoped that it worked. 

Fitz wished he would be able to see his daughter, she was right on the other side of the wall! But Fitz shook his head, waiting for something to happen. 

~~~~~

About an hour or so later, Fitz couldn't be sure, he heard Jemma's voice, "Go code 98322." Fitz was relieved to hear her voice, but also heartbroken, as he was now talking to a confused and afraid Jemma, who didn't remember most of the past four years- who didn't remember Alya. "Fitz, Zephyr One is charged, with all crew accounted for, ready to launch." 

He swallowed and spoke, "Copy Jemma," he wanted to scream at her to remember, but instead he just said, "Glad to hear it. Tell them I'm sorry." He missed them, but if everything went according to plan he'd also be seeing them in a couple seconds. "Prepare for launch." he held his breath and hoped it would work. The machine started making noises, and he saw a bright light as the pod started shuddering. He braced himself on the walls of the pod, hoping that it wouldn't wake Alya up on the other side. He was transported through the quantum realm into the alternate timeline. He felt his feet land on solid ground again, he looked around widely, realizing that he couldn't see much through the protective helmet, he took it off and his eyes landed on the love of his life, "Jemma!" He breathlessly said. 

He heard scoffs of disbeliefs and various people saying his name, he looked around and registered on his friends- no family, that he hadn't seen in so long. His smile grew even wider, "You did it! It worked!"

He went to go hug Jemma, but she backed away from him, in to Deke's arms, "No, no, stop, stop!"

Fitz heart sunk, they knew this was a risk if they tried to get into her brain, he looked around at his friends, "She doesn't remember me does she?" He didn't need an answer, but the silence that was among the group spoke for itself, he sighed, "Damn." Of course she forgot him, that was the only thing left that hadn't happened to them yet! He shook himself out of his wallows and admitted, "I'm just glad to see you all in one piece!"

"One piece? Simmons mind is in shambles!" Daisy argued, he heard Deke chime in too but Fitz barely registered it. 

"Give her time, hopefully no serious damage has been done." They had accounted for this after all, and it wouldn't do for him to think negatively especially when they had Alya waiting-no he couldn't think about her right now. 

"What do you mean no damage?!" May asked, accusingly. 

"The chronicom fleet destroyed S.H.E.I.L.D!" Coulson pointed out. It was good to see Coulson, even a robot version of him, but alas now was not the time to have a reunion, even though it had been 6 years since he had seen him. 

"That won't matter! We can still get back to our original timeline and save it!" Fitz explained desperately, they had to save it, they had Alya waiting. The team continued arguing with him and accusing him no matter how many ways he tried to explain that there was no other way. 

~~~~~

"Enoch told us! Before he died," Jemma said. Fitz felt a sharp pain of sadness, his best friend could be annoying but then again so could anyone, Alya would be so disappointed and sad that she'll never see her Uncle Enoch again-no! He couldn't think about that right now, he wouldn't be able to focus. 

~~~~~

"I'll stay." When Fitz heard Deke say those words, he instantly felt all the words that he had said the last time he had seen Deke, and then to his conversation with Jemma, his promise. 

" _I just don't want him to think that I don't like him, I don't want it to be a repeat of my dad, with Alya or Deke." Fitz finally admitted. "He just reminds me so much of me when I was younger."_

_"I know." Jemma said softly, "And that's one of the things I love about him."_

_"I'm going to try harder Jemma, when I see him again," Fitz promised._

_"And that's why you're better than your father." Jemma reassured, kissing him. "We could offer him a permanent room in the cottage!" Jemma offered brightly._

_"Don't push it." Fitz said with a smile, both of them laughing._

And now with Deke's made up mind on sacrificing himself, he may only have a few moments to make it up to him, try to explain how he felt. And Deke would never meet their beloved Alya. 

Fitz was jarred out of his thoughts by Deke saying, "And third, as long as you reconnect with nana and then," Fitz widened his blue eyes, unsure at where he was going with this, "you know, connect." Deke put his two fists together and Fitz's eyebrows raised. He almost snorted at what he was suggesting, at the hilarity of it all, but he quickly composed himself, now was not the time to tell everyone, not with Jemma in the state she was in. "Then maybe you'll see me again some day." 

Almost everyone else was already on the Zephyr, having already said their goodbyes to Deke. Jemma still didn't really know who he was, but she had taken comfort in him in the last couple of hours, and assumed they must have been close, so she hugged him, "Bye nana," he said, smiling at her. 

"Bye," she responded before the girl in the superhero costume pulled her onto the Zephyr. 

Fitz lingered a bit to help Deke and fully explain it to him as fast as possible, and then try to explain his feelings as well as he can and as fast as he can. "Thanks for the tool, and for giving me a spot in the lab." Deke said.

"It was the least I could do for how we ended things." Fitz took a breath, "I never should've said those things to you, if we had just discussed it maybe you would've been with us when we fled, and we could've had this conversation in way more depth, saying everything we wanted to say-" Fitz was cut off by Deke engulfing him in a hug, Fitz was taken a back at first, but quickly hugged him back, determined to fix what he had ruined. "I'm proud of you Deke, and, and, I love you."

"I love you too, Bobo," Deke said, smiling wide, and breaking apart the hug. 

"Jemma and I are sad to see you go, we could've created really great things in the lab together, of course we're retiring so, it'd have to be off the radar," Fitz told him. 

"Your retiring?! But you two are geniuses!" 

Fitz's eyes twinkled, "We have much more important things to worry about."

"What?" Deke asked not following.

"I'm letting you know this because you're family, no one else know's yet. But we were alone for a few years, and well we had a daughter, and we did the DNA test and everything, she's your mother."

"Mom?" 

"She's fantastic, our little Alya. I really wish you could've gotten to meet her, I think she'd love you," Fitz replied, earnestly. 

Deke wrapped his Bobo up in another hug, "Thank you, for everything." 

Fitz nodded and rushed to the Zephyr to help them set up everything on that side, he had fulfilled his promise to Jemma, he and Deke were all right, now he just had to deal with the fact that Jemma may never be able to remember him, or Alya. He just had to take things slow, they had discussed how he would handle it if this happened, he just had to stick to the plan. He walked into the room where Jemma was, Daisy behind her. He turned to Mack and Coulson behind him, "Okay, okay, I need to take it slow with her, or her mind might collapse."

"Just get her to remember you, that's the most important thing," Mack told him.

"No it's not." Alya was the most important thing. "I need to take something small that she does remember and then I'm going to draw a line from that to all of the rest." Mack nodded at him and Fitz turned around, taking a deep breath, "Okay. Jemma?" Jemma looked at him and he put up his hand to wave at her awkwardly, and then quickly put it back down. "I was going to tell your friends a story, and I was wondering if you could help me fill in some of the blanks?" his voice cracked at the last word, if Jemma didn't remember Alya or him, he couldn't even bear to think it. 

"It's okay we know him," Daisy told Jemma. 

"Yeah, and I know some things about you too," that was an understatement, what didn't he know about her? "Like, when you were younger you had scoliosis. Yeah? And you would spend your nights, lying on your back with your father..." 

"Looking up at the stars," Jemma finished for him, a tone of remembrance in her voice. 

Fitz broke into a smile, "Yah. And do you remember what your favorite star was?"

"Theta Serpentis, thought technically it was a triple star system in the constellation Serpens," Jemma answered, somewhat confused at where he was going with this. 

"No, no, that's right, that's right. What was the traditional name of it?" Fitz moved forward to be closer to her, "The biggest star in that system."

"Alya," Jemma said, in recognition. 

Fitz felt like he could cry for joy right then and there when she said their daughter's name, instead his eyes became glassy and he broke into the biggest smile, "Yeah. Okay, I want you to lock on to that name, cause that's where we went." He took a deep breath and started on the story, leaving out the most important bit, "Enoch saved us, wearing another skin, and he got us out of there." Fitz smiled, remembering Enoch. "Flint made us a piece of the time monolith, to help us do what had to be done. We arrived safely in that distant solar system, and I began to study the time stream. Jemma, you were afraid it would drive me mad or give me radiation poisoning to interact with it," he let out a soft chuckle at remembering how worried Jemma had been. "But we had no choice, we needed solutions. And there was only one path that would give us the chance to succeed. We knew it would take awhile to complete our designs, so we took some time to live." 

Jemma looked up at him, realization dawning on her, "And we did!" 

Fitz smiled softly at her, "Yeah, we did. For years. We had our happily ever after," Fitz thought back to when Jemma had made fun of him for saying that, but it hadn't been more true. "We knew our friends needed us, not to mention mankind, but we didn't want to say goodbye." Not to each other, not to Alya. "So we put it off. But we couldn't stay forever," Fitz muttered bitterly. "So we jumped back to the moment we left. One of us had to stay to establish the link between timelines. And it had to be me, because my mind couldn't handle the implant. I didn't see the rest, but now we know it worked."

Jemma stood up, pointing to Fitz, "You were with me that whole time!" He'd been with her since they were 16. "Fitz." 

He instantly broke into a smile, "Yeah. Jemma." 

"But why though? Why would we stay so long? I can't follow that logic. Why would we stay so long? That doesn't, that-" Jemma turned away from Fitz, trying to understand why they stayed so long. His heart broke that she was missing the most important part, that she was looking at it from a logic stand point not a mother's.

"She's remembering that she knows him... just not that she loves him." Daisy declared. 

Fitz didn't want to turn away from Jemma, but he owed them an explanation, "No, no, no. She's forgotten something far more important than that." Alya, the stars in their sky, their everything, and Jemma couldn't remember her. Fitz made an executive decision, "Okay, I need to fill you guys in so you know what we're fighting for, so that we can map out a plan together, and all be willing to do what needs to be done, no matter what the cost." He didn't care what they had to do, he wouldn't let Alya down and he was going to give her the life she deserved. 

~~~~~

He made his way over to Jemma, "Hey, it's me, Fitz, I know this is confusing for you, but could you go into that room and put on a hazmat suit for me? I'll join you in a moment." Jemma nodded and went into the room to get dressed. Fitz turned to Coulson, Mack, and Daisy, "Okay we need to do whatever it takes because we have something waiting for us back on Earth." Fitz started.

"Is this just about a life with you and Jemma? We all want you two to have time but it sounds like you already did, we have more important things to worry about!" Daisy said, confused.

"It's about something much more important that just a life, she is our life."

"She?" Mack asked.

"We were alone for quite sometime and then when we found out Jemma was pregnant, we kept putting it off even longer. Our little girl is waiting for us, and, we're willing to do anything to save her. Jemma willingly forgot her to give her a better life! It was the hardest thing either of us has ever done."

"You, you had a kid?" Daisy asked, Fitz looked down at his feet, they had hated that their family was excluded out of Alya's life for the first couple years, but selfishly they had loved the time together. Fitz nodded in response, not letting himself speak. 

"What's her name?" Daisy asked softly.

Fitz broke into a wide smile as he spoke his daughter's name, "Alya."

Daisy rushed into him and gave him a huge hug, "She's lucky to have you two," she whispered into his ear. Fitz smiled into the hug, he really had missed them.

"Congratulations Turbo," Mack said as he patted Fitz's back. 

"I'm positive that you are an amazing father, that both of you are amazing parents," Coulson told him earnestly. Fitz looked at him gratefully, Coulson was his father figure and it meant a lot to know that he believed in him. 

"Alright so what do we need to do?" Daisy asked, ready to do whatever she had to do to protect this little girl that she hadn't even met yet. Fitz grinned at his family. 

~~~~~

He walked into the room that he had sent Jemma into as soon as the plan was drawn up, he didn't want to leave her alone any second longer, "Hey, Jemma." he said when he came into the room, her already into the hazmat suit. Fitz grabbed his and started putting it on.

"You were," She corrected herself, "You are, my best friend." Jemma said slowly. 

Fitz smiled at her, they were going to be all right, she was going to remember, "Yah Jemma, I am. And you're mine." he responded. 

"You don't like dead bodies, do you?" Jemma asked. 

Fitz visibly squirmed, "No," he said firmly. 

Jemma giggled and then stopped suddenly, she looked as if she was trying to remember something, "And, and, and, you like, prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwiches with, with, with?" 

"-with a hint of homemade pesto aioli." Fitz finished for her, he put on the hazmat suit, and he was about to say something but then Mack came in with Sousa and Yoyo in tow. He had full confidence that she would remember, and then if everything worked, they would have their daughter back in their arms soon. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deke and Fitz content!!! Like I said before, that relationship had so much potential, and I was sad we got 0 closure on it. So I made my own closure!!!  
> I think I like writing from Fitz's pov more than Jemma's so I had fun with this chapter, especially with the show how we basically are traveling through with Jemma's pov this season, I liked writing it how Fitz saw it all happen because he skipped all the time travel business.   
> I could only bare to write like a sentence about Enoch cause that hurts.   
> Thank you so much for getting this far into my humble little story, it means so much to me that you are giving me the time of day! Feel free to leave kudos and comments! I love hearing your feedback, thoughts, and suggestions!


	12. Reuniting Under the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at how Fitzsimmons got to Alya, and what happens after what we see on screen with Alya and Jemma.

“Friends,” the chronicom dropped his gun and continued, “as we have always been.” Fitz breathed a sigh of relief, they had done it, after four years of trying to save their friends and their world they were done. They were retired, no more missions, just him and Jemma, the love of his life, and Alya, the stars in their sky. He looked over to Jemma, his smile wide, her smile happy but still confused

“Fitz.” she uttered, giving him a look, he knew what that look meant instantly, but Yoyo and Sousa just looked at the pair confused. 

“I know, Jemma.” He turned to the inhuman and the man out of time, “We have one last job to do, we’ll be back.” He grabbed Jemma’s hand and they ran out to go to the quinjet, ignoring the shouts of confusion coming from their friends. His knee was bopping up and down during the length of the flight, squeezing Jemma’s hand as a comforting gesture for both of them. “She’ll be okay. She’s a brave girl. She probably will just run straight to the grass, and study every single bug she can find, and we’ll never get her back to sleep.” he forced a chuckle, the reassurances meant for both Jemma and himself. She just nodded, not willing herself to be able to talk. 

The quinjet finally landed and they both ran through the jungle to a bewildered looking Piper and Flint, “Okay, that was a neat trick.” 

“Wait, how did you-?” Piper looked back and forth between Fitz and Jemma even though from her perspective Fitz had been trapped in the containment pod. She hit the console and opened up the pod to reveal that Fitz wasn’t in there. If he hadn’t been so worried Fitz probably would’ve laughed at the two, “What the hell man? We were scared out of our minds! Are you saying that we were guarding this thing for nothing?” 

Fitz and Jemma shared a look and she went around to the back of the containment pod without a word, she hadn’t seen her daughter in a month or so, and had been forced to forget that her daughter had ever existed, no mother should ever have to go through that. He had never hated Ward more for when they realized that it would have to be Jemma to forget because of his brain injury. “No.” he simply stated, “You were guarding our everything,” before he went to join his wife. Jemma looked back at him right before she pressed the console to open the other side of the pod. He nodded giving her a weak smile, and she hit it. Both of them barely aware of Flint and Piper coming around to join them. 

He got a glimpse of a white haired blonde snuggled in the blankets and he smiled, she was okay. Jemma breathed, “Alya?” 

The white haired blonde girl stirred from hearing her mother’s voice, “Mama!” she exclaimed, and rushed into the relieved mother’s arms. Fitz sat down on the grass in relief at his girls reuniting, but not wanting to interrupt the moment. Tears in his eyes, he smiled at a mom and her daughter reuniting after being ripped apart, but he would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant giving Alya a better life. “Mama, what’s wrong?” 

Jemma touched Alya’s cheek and said, “Nothing, sweet girl. Nothing. I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she repeated. They hugged again and Fitz thought back to living on the Zephyr with Jemma, finding out she was pregnant, laying eyes on Alya for the first time and vowing to never let anything hurt her, showing her the stars, but now they got to live on Earth, introduce her to her extended family, let her lay around in the grass and feel the warmth of the sun on her face, the dream that had kept him going so close to coming true. 

Alya’s sweet, innocent, voice broke him out of his trance, “You said you would be gone for a long time, but that wasn’t long.” 

The tears falling from his face might’ve told you that he was sad, but he was the happiest he’d ever been. “Felt like forever to me,” Jemma reasoned back. 

“There was a loud noise.”

“I know,” Jemma said, they were both so proud of their daughter for being brave. 

As if she was reading their minds Alya said, “I was only a little scared.” He let out a soft chuckle, hearing her Scottish and British blend of an accent. 

“Me too, sweetie, me too.” Jemma told her lovingly, before wrapping her in another hug, letting the tears pour. 

Alya looked up and her eyes landed on Fitz, “Daddy!” she squealed. 

“Come here, Fitz” Jemma whispered, wanting their family to have their reunion. 

Fitz made his way over to his girls and wrapped them in his arms, he and Jemma crying with Alya laughing, “I missed you, Monkey.” he said, tickling her belly as she let out a soft squeal. 

After a few moments of the family reuniting, Piper cleared her throat, not wanting to interrupt anything but they still needed to know what the hell was happening. Alya, just know noticing that someone else was present, put her arms around her dad’s neck and hid in the crook of his neck, being tired still since it was past her bedtime and because the only other person she was been around was Uncle Enoch. Enoch, he still hadn’t heard what exactly had happened to his best friend. They had been so busy, but now was not the time to mourn his friend, they still had a lot of explaining to do. “Piper, I’d really just like to explain it all in one go, if that’s okay? The rest of the team is meeting back at the lighthouse, everything will make more or less sense then.” 

Piper nodded, her facial expression still bewildered, only beaten by Flint’s look of utter amazement and confusion. They all made their way silently to the quinjet, Fitz leading the way and carrying the sleeping Alya, with Jemma clutching on to both of them as if her life depended on never letting them go, not all of her memories were quite back yet, so it was probably still very overwhelming. Piper and Flint not far behind trying to make sense of everything. They flew away abandoning the pod for the moment, they’d come back and grab it later he was sure, but at the moment he couldn’t bother. He was on a quinjet heading to see his family-hopefully without them screaming their heads off at him like the first time they reunited, he had his daughter in his arms, and Jemma was sleeping on his shoulder. He placed a kiss to the top of both of their heads, savoring the moment. Smiling, realizing that he’d have more moments just like this with them without the impending doom of the end of the world hanging over their heads. They landed at the lighthouse and he gently woke Jemma up, he turned to Piper and Flint, “You have both been incredibly patient, thank you. We’ll head in a little after you, we’d appreciate it if you don’t mention anything to them just yet.” Fitz explained. 

Flint nodded and Piper said, “Of course.” 

He looked down and saw Jemma fully woken up, “You ready to show our family what we’ve been fighting for?” he asked her, kissing her forehead and giving Alya over to her. 

“Of course.” She said, kissing their daughter’s hair. 

“Before we go in, how are your memories coming along?” Fitz asked. 

“I have everything in the right order, and I think I remember all the important parts, I”m just missing some specific memories I believe.” Jemma explained to her husband. 

“I have no doubt that it will come back.” he said, taking her hand and leading her into the lighthouse. They stopped right before they got into the main control room where the rest of the team was waiting. “Do you want to wait here for a second?” he asked concerned. Jemma nodded soundlessly, still a little confused from the damage they did to her brain and memories. “I’ll motion for you when I think they’re ready. I already explained Alya to Mack, Daisy, and Coulson but to everyone else it’ll be a bit of a shock.” 

“Okay, Fitz.” he smiled a smile with so much love in it for both of them as he kissed both of their heads and headed into the room just as he heard exclamations from various members of the team all saying things like, ‘How many more secrets do those two have?!’ or ‘Oh great where have they run off to this time?!’

“Hey everybody.” He half smiled at his family that he hadn’t seen in so long. A hushed whisper fell among the group. 

Daisy spoke up, “Where’s Simmons?” she demanded.

“She’s outside, her minds still catching up and she’ll come in when she’s ready. Look,” he took a deep breath, “Some of you already know part of the story, but I’ll do a quick summary for everyone. Enoch saved our life, he took us to Piper and Flint who made us a piece of the time monolith so we could build a time machine. Enoch, Jemma, and I, went to the star system Alya and lived there trying to make a solution. Enoch had stolen part of the time stream and so I went into it and looked at all the different timelines and variations of how we could solve it, but we figured out the only way was to create the time drive, use D.I.A.N.A to block out Jemma’s memory of my role in it all, while I had to stay and establish the link between time lines.”

May interrupted his story, “Fitz, how long has it been for you all?”

“A little over four years,” he said plainly, he didn’t see the point in hiding it anymore. “We jumped back to the moment we left and left Piper and Flint in charge of the pod where I would be transported to your new timeline. But we didn’t just stay there because we were making our designs and making plans, we didn’t want to say goodbye to each other and-.” 

Jemma cut him off and came in carrying an awake Alya, probably because of all of the excitement. “We didn’t want to say goodbye to her. She’s what we were fighting for. Say hello to Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons.” she said, looping her arms around Fitz’s waist, looking at all the faces nervously. Fitz looked over at May who's normally stoic face broke into a wide smile, her eyes becoming glassy. 

You could hear a pin drop as the team stared in shock at the newest addition to their family. “It’s one thing to hear it but it’s another to see it,” Daisy mumbled. 

“We’re sorry, we didn’t want the chance of anyone finding her, it took a lot for us to get the courage to erase her from Jemma’s memories, and of course-“ he was stopped when Daisy ran over to the two of them and engulfed them into a big hug, careful not to hit Alya. He thought back to when he first met Daisy, or Skye as she had been called back then, he had even had had a crush on her, it seemed like a million years ago, but they had been through so many traumas together, all three of them being each others rock, and now here they were, one with quake powers and a boyfriend from the 50’s, and Jemma and him happily married with a daughter.

Daisy pushed herself back from the two parents and turned her attention to the little girl, “Hello Alya, I’m Daisy,” she said with a smile.

“Do you want to go to Aunt Daisy?” Jemma asked their daughter, when Alya nodded Fitz could tell that Jemma was a little sad after just getting her back, he gave her shoulder a little squeeze, they’d get all the time in the world with Alya once the their team was done marveling at their niece. 

“I'm named after you!" Alya exclaimed once she was in Aunt Daisy’s arms.

Daisy gave a confused look at Alya's parents, "Didn't you say Alya Melinda?"

"Alya means-" Fitz started.

"Sky!" Jemma and Alya finished in union. 

Daisy was clearly choked up, but tried to cover it up with a joke, "She's clearly your kid, she already speaks the Fitzsimmons language."

"You have powers don't you?” Alya recalled from her bedtime stories. 

Fitz chuckled at Daisy’s confused face, “You didn’t think we’d let her grow up not hearing stories of all of her family, now did you?” 

“Show me!” The little 4 year old’s demanding voice requested in a tone that was not unlike her mothers.

Daisy smiled at the little girl and made her hair fly up with her quake powers as Alya let out a squeal. “You stick with me kid, and we’ll get into tons of trouble together." Fitz and Jemma both rolled their eyes. 

The little girl’s blue eyes lit up and motioned to get down and ran over to Mack. She looked absolutely minuscule standing next to Fitz’s giant of a best friend. “Your Uncle Mack! You helped daddy get better when he was sick!” 

Fitz could see tears gleaming in his friend’s eyes as he bent down to get more on Alya’s level, “Your daddy did most of that all on his own, Mini Turbo.”

“Hey pequeña,” Yoyo said while bending down next to Mack. 

“Aunt Yoyo!” The little girl looked around as she was trying to place what story went with who, “My mummy says you can run faster than a cheetah, but I don’t believe it,” she said while crossing her arms and taking a stance. 

“I see she’s inherited the Fitz-Simmons trait of stubbornness,” Mack looked at the couple and Fitz rolled his eyes, but both were beaming at their daughter meeting other people. Yoyo accepted the challenge and ran around the room in record time, taking Mr. Monkey that Jemma had grabbed before they left the container and was now holding and handed it to Alya. Alya’s inquisitive eyes grew even wider at what she had just witnessed. 

She marched towards Sousa, Piper, and Flint with a determined look on her face, “I don’t know who you are,” she stated. 

Fitz groaned and put his head in his hands as the rest of the team just laughed. After Sousa, Piper, and Flint introduced themselves to his daughter Alya spotted May and ran over to her, flinging herself into the agents arms. May grunted as the four year old leapt into her arms, but she didn't seem to care, so much love in her eyes for the little girl in her arms, “You are my Aunt May! I'm named after you, Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons. You’ve saved my mummy and daddy’s lives lots!” Fitz and Jemma shared a look after seeing the look of love in May’s face, knowing that Alya had already wrapped everyone around their little finger. 

"Call me Aunt Mindy, Alya." 

Alya nodded and turned to Coulson, still staying in her Aunt Mindy's arms. "Grandpa Coulson! My daddy said you are the best man he's ever known!"

Coulson was clearly taken off guard, and told the little girl, "Your parents are the smartest and most caring people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, so I'm excited to get to know you, little Alya." Coulson turned to Fitzsimmons, "Also, grandpa? Really? Am I that old?" 

Fitz smirked and Jemma blushed. Alya yawned in May's arms, "Looks like it's way past someones bed time." Jemma said knowingly, taking back Alya into her arms, grateful to hold her again. 

"We'll reconvene in the morning, discuss the future, for now get some rest," Mack told them all. 

~~~~~

That night Alya slept in the same bed as her parents, both because her parents didn't want to let go of her quite yet, but also because the lighthouse really wasn't equipped for their needs. Fitz splashed some water on his face, and then went to go join his girls who were already in bed. He smiled softly at the scene in front of him, both girls were sound of asleep, curled up against each other, smiling happily in their dreams. He kissed Jemma's forehead, "Love you Jems," he whispered softly. Fitz kissed Alya's head, breathing in the sweet scent of her white blonde hair, "I love you, monkey." He climbed into bed with the two of them, both of them snuggling closer to him in their sleep. They were going to be okay. They had their sweet Alya, they had their family, they had each other. They could truly, just live.

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had actually written most of this chapter before I had even posted or written any other chapters, and it was just me writing my thoughts down on the finale-not supposed to go any where. But then after this I realized I wanted to try and see what I thought the Fitzsimmons Fam were up to in the stars and randomly decided to post it, thus the fic, "The Stars In Our Sky" was born!  
> I was struggling to come up with a chapter title for this one that had to do with stars for like a full day and then I realized that they literally reunite at night time... whoops!  
> I will be traveling over the next couple of days and then re-starting school, but I will try to post as soon as I can, and know that just because I won't be posting daily anymore, that doesn't mean that I've forgotten about this fic, I've really loved writing about the Fitzsimmons fam!  
> Thank you for all the love and support with this fic!! As always feel free to leave kudos or comments with feedback or suggestions for future chapters or separate one shots/AU's.


	13. The New Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz and Simmons discuss plans for the future while Alya gets used other people and the new environment.

Jemma woke up with her daughter pressed into her, her and Fitz holding hands over their daughter in the middle of them. Jemma smiled softly, they were okay, they were together, and they were alright. She felt Alya stir a few moments later, "Good morning, my darling." 

Alya's big blue sleep eyes blinked a few times to fully wake up, "Morning mama." she said rubbing said eyes. 

"Have any good dreams?" Jemma asked, it was their normal routine and she slipped back into it easily. 

Alya thought for a moment, trying to recall, she broke into a wide grin, "The best!"

"What happened?" Jemma cooed, tracing Alya's cheek. 

"I met all of your friends! I met Aunt Daisy, Aunt Yoyo, Uncle Mack, he was huge! I also met Aunt May, though she asked me to call her Aunt Mindy, and I met Grandpa Coulson!" Alya exclaimed. 

Jemma's smile widened, "Sweetie, that wasn't a dream, you did meet them." 

Alya shrieked and sat up, Jemma glanced over at Fitz who groaned and turned away from the two of them, "Let's go play with them then!" 

"No, no, sweetie, not yet. I'm sure they're all sleeping still, like daddy, although he probably won't be sleeping for much longer," she added on. 

Alya turned and registered that her daddy was sleeping next to her, her blue eyes twinkled and she started softly punching Fitz, "GOOD MORNING!" she shouted. 

Fitz groaned again and turned to face his two girls, "Mornin' monkey," he wrapped Alya and pulled her into him tightly so she would stop punching him, "Morning Jems,"

Alya struggled against him, kicking and squirming, "Let me go!" 

"You didn't let me sleep in," Fitz pointed out.

"Mama!" she kicked some more, "Help me!"

"I think someone needs pancakes," Jemma said knowingly. 

"Yummy!" Alya squealed, and Fitz let her go, only after sleepily giving her forehead a kiss. She made her way over to her mum, "Can we bring some to daddy, it can be a surprise!" Alya said in a hushed tone, but still quite loud, certainly loud enough for Fitz to hear. Fitz and Jemma exchanged an amused look. 

"That's an excellent idea, come on Alya," before Jemma got off of the bed Fitz reached and grabbed her hand back, squeezing it, a gesture they had done thousands of times, even when they were still just friends. A simple motion that meant, it's okay, we're okay, I'm here, I'm okay.

~~~~~

Jemma and Alya were walking back to their room with a plate of steaming hot pancakes in Jemma's hand, Alya skipping ahead of her. Alya caught a glimpse of a woman with black hair in front of her, "Aunt Mindy!" she yelled, launching herself at the woman, ever an early riser. 

"Hello Alya, what are you doing up and about?" It was barely 7, and they had had a rough night.

"We made pancakes for daddy! But shhh it's a surprise," Alya added on in a hushed tone. 

"Of course," May said, not a hint of amusement in her voice, turning to Jemma she said, "Mack wants us all at a meeting at 8- he's letting us all sleep in!" she joked. 

"Yes, because 8 am is sleeping in," Jemma agreed, making fun of their director. 

"I assume that's sleeping in for you two now a days," May said with a knowing smile. 

"Mummy! We have to go before they get cold!" Alya cut Jemma off before she could reply. She smiled apologetically at May and followed her daughter, May smiling at the kids she had watched grow up with their kid. 

Once Alya and Jemma got to their temporary room, Alya put a finger to her lips saying "Shhhh." Jemma nodded a quirk of a smile slipping through as she opened the door for her daughter.

"SURPRISE!" Alya screamed as she leapt on to Fitz's sleeping body. Fitz grabbed Alya and tickled her belly, sitting up.

When Fitz saw the pancakes he feigned an exaggerated surprised look saying, "You made me pancakes?! Thank you monkey!" 

Jemma smiled and joined the two on the bed. Normally she wouldn't allow eating on the bed, but they wouldn't get much alone time as a family in this base, and she desperately needed Fitz and Alya to herself. 

~~~~~

Pancakes long gone, Alya was on the floor playing with Mr. Monkey, Jemma nestled in the crook of Fitz's arm laying her head on his chest. "When do you reckon we should introduce Alya to the world?" Fitz asked, this is why they had done it for her, for her to have a normal life, for her to see the sun, feel the grass. 

"Well we do have the meeting in 10 minutes or so-"

"Our last meeting," Fitz stated simply.

"Our last meeting," Jemma agreed firmly. 

"And then we show up in Glasgow on my mum's doorstep, married and with a kid, and then we look for a cottage in Perthshire," Fitz said kissing her head. 

"I can't wait to see Linda," Jemma happily sighed. 

"I could wait a bit, she's going to be so mad at me."

"Fitz."

"She's going to be mad at me, ecstatic once she realizes that the little girl is her granddaughter, smug when she see's us with rings on our fingers because she told me I would marry you when I first brought her over, and I hadn't believed her, and she was right, then she'll be ecstatic again to see you, and then mad at me, and then, and only then will she give me a hug." He knew his mom well enough to know what she would do when she realized just how much of his life she had excluded her from, not that he had a choice. Hell, he even missed his own wedding. "When do you want to go see your parents?" Fitz asked softly. 

Jemma sighed, she loved her parents, she really did, but it would be hard. They never wanted her to accept the position at S.H.I.E.L.D in the first place, only agreeing to let her go if she called every day and twice on Sunday's. And it had been easy at the Academy and Sci-Ops, less easy on the bus, near impossible at Hydra, at the playground she couldn't bare to tell them that she had been stranded on an alien planet for 6 months. And then her and Fitz got together, and nothing else seemed to matter, and then she was plugged into an alternate reality for a couple weeks. Then she was kidnapped again and sent to the future, and then she was wanted and got married, she couldn't just call after a year and say 'Hey, I'm married to that pasty boy you tolerated'. And then Fitz died, and she couldn't bring herself to talk to anyone, not even Linda. Then she spent a year in space looking for Fitz, and then she moved to space for four years, she was sure they hated her by now. And then having her own daughter, she couldn't bare to think if Alya would ever do what Jemma had done to her parents, which made her even more guilty. "Let's just get settled in and then make a decision." 

Fitz squeezed her hand, "Whatever you want Jemma." Fitz of course, knew the situation, he knew everything, perhaps more than her at the moment, her memories were still fuzzy. 

~~~~~

The family walked to their meeting and were the last to arrive. "Aunt Daisy!" Alya squealed as soon as she saw the her. Alya ran to sit on Daisy's lap, who was sitting close to Sousa, Jemma smiled at that, she may not quite have all of her memories of Daisy, but she knew that she deserved happiness.

"Hey squirt!" Daisy said, gladly accepting her into her lap. 

"Well, I'll just get straight to it," Mack said. "I am rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. all of you are welcome to join me," he said glancing towards Kora, Sousa, and Flint. "May and I will also be rebuilding the Academy, which we will also need help with," Mack said glancing at Fitz and Simmons.

"We're retiring, we're done." Fitz said firmly, squeezing Jemma's shoulder, this was the right thing.

Mack nodded solemnly, he had expected this. "I'll always need some guest lecturers!" May piped up.

"And I consultants," Mack added on. 

"Talk to us in a year," Fitz said, smirking.

~~~~~

After their meeting Piper, Flint and May had volunteered to go grab the pod, as that had all of Alya's personal belongings and S.H.I.E.L.D needed in their possession all of Fitz's inventions, they didn't want another A.I.D.A. happening. Piper and Flint were also emptying out Jemma's bunk in the Zephyr, which also had all of Fitz's belongings, to put in the quinjet for May to take the young family to Glasgow that afternoon. 

"So what do you reckon?" Fitz asked, "Time to show Alya the sun and the grass?" He asked Jemma. 

"I'll go make the Fitz-Simmons special." Jemma said, kissing him lightly. 

"Prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwiches with a hint of homemade pesto aioli?" Fitz asked.

"What else?" she smiled. Fitz smiled at her, precious stolen moments alone with her, as Alya was off with her dozens of babysitters having the time of her life he was sure. She kissed him again, but this time he deepened it, their first passionate kiss since before they had said their painful goodbye. "I'll go make those sandwiches," Jemma said, breathlessly. 

"I'll come with," he decided, and grinned, thinking how just yesterday she could barely remember that there was such a thing as a Fitzsimmons sandwich, and now, she remembered almost everything. Not for the first time, Fitz thanked God for Alya, not just because she was the light of his life, the stars in his sky, because it was her, not him, that had made her remember everything that she had forgotten, and he couldn't be more happy or grateful. 

~~~~~

Fitz held Alya in the elevator, Jemma pressed close to him, holding the picnic supplies. "You know all the movies and documentaries we watched?" Fitz asked Alya. Alya nodded meekly. "Well it's all real, the animals, the sun, and the grass! And it's okay to be scared, because it's all new, but it won't hurt you okay?" 

"Okay." The elevator doors opened and the three stepped outside, the sun brilliantly bright. Alya blinked a few times, she had never seen anything so bright or green. She shielded her eyes from the sun and immediately started crying, putting her face firmly on Fitz's chest. 

"It's okay, sweet girl," Jemma reassured, rubbing circles into her back. 

"It won't hurt you, monkey. Although she is related to me, so she might get quite a sunburn..." Fitz mumbled to Jemma. 

"Fitz," Jemma said firmly. "You'll be okay, sweet girl." Jemma's eyes wandered to a store a little ways off-a tourist shop, she got an idea. "Fitz, I'll be right back."

"Jemma where you going?!" he called after her, he looked a little ahead of where his wife was heading, he thanked God for their physic link-as Daisy called it, and instantly understood. "Hey Monkey, do you want to help me lay out the blanket?" Against his shirt she nodded a little bit, still not lifting up her head, poor girl, he thought.

~~~~~

Jemma walked back from the tourist shop, holding a shopping bag in her hand. As she walked closer to where her little family was camped she saw Fitz, laid down on his back on the picnic blanket, with Alya nestled in his arm, eyes against him, shielding out the very bright sun for the girl born in the stars. "Alya," she said softly, "Look what I've got!" She brought out a pair of kid's sunglasses, clearly for tourists that didn't realize they were over top of a top secret spy organization's base. The sides said _'Lake Ontario'_ "These will help it not be as bright," she said bringing Alya to look at her, she wiped away her tears, and placed the sunglasses over her eyes. "Better?"

"Better," 

Fitz looked at her, relieved, "You bloody genius." 

"I also have this hat, it'll help even more, and I think it'll look quite good on you." She brought out a kid's size bucket hat with a print of little lighthouses on them, she was going to place it on Alya's head when Fitz sat up and snatched it from her. 

"I dunno, I think it looks quite good on me," he said, putting on the hat. 

Alya giggled, "Daddy!" Fitz and Jemma exchanged another relieved look, thrilled that their normally happy girl was giggling again, leave it to her daddy to make her laugh, Jemma mused. 

"Alright, alright." he took off his hat and placed in on Alya, "You're right Jems, it looks much better on you, monkey." 

"All the boys will be chasing after her," Jemma commented. 

"Never mind, I'm taking the hat back!" Fitz said jokingly. 

"Oh, Fitz!" Jemma groaned. She felt in the bag, forgetting that she had had one last thing, she brought out the sunscreen, "This will give you extra protection from the sun!" Jemma declared, Alya was more than willing to let Jemma rub the white lotion all over the skin. 

"What about mama and dada?" Alya asked innocently. 

Jemma squirted some of the white lotion in both of their hands, "We're getting there sweet girl."

Maybe Alya wasn't quite ready for running around in the grass, but she was getting more used to what Earth had to offer. It was a long time before she went outside without her hat and sunglasses, but she was making progress, and Fitz and Jemma were so proud of her for that. They had time, and they had faith that their brave girl would get there. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up posting today! We shall see if I can do it tomorrow, but not promises as I will still be traveling! As always feel free to leave suggestions for future chapters or separate one shots/au's!   
> I really appreciate any and all feedback and thanks for just continuing to read this fic. Feel free to leave comments, kudos, or suggestions!!!  
> Have a great rest of your day!


	14. Beginnings and Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitz-Simmons fam say goodbye to their friends after just getting them back, but they need time to separate themselves. Alya meets another very important person in their family.

The small family were sad to say goodbye to their team so soon after just getting back, but their little family needed time to heal. Goodbyes were always hard, and this was no different. There were some short nods and thanks from Kora, Sousa, Flint, and Piper. Jemma winked at Piper knowing they’d be seeing her soon. She had made her request from her night of babysitting and Piper was the one person who knew Davis better than anyone and they would need her when Fitz started building him. "I'm still not over how you basically told us to babysit for a night and made us believe that we were guarding the key to save the world." Piper grumbled. Fitz and Jemma exchanged a smirk. 

Yo-yo made her way over to them, “Thank you, I can’t imagine what it was like to leave this pequeña.” Yo-yo said, bending down to tickle Alya’s cheek.

Mack came next, “When I first met you Turbo, I had only heard of the Legend of Fitzsimmons. I saw there was a spark in you Fitz, I just never knew how much. Then when Jemma came back, slowly I saw the magic of Fitz-Simmons working together. I can't bare to think that we are loosing our best S.H.I.E.L.D scientist and agents on a director's level. But, on a friend's level, I'm so sad to not see your familiar face wondering around these halls. Your smile," he said to Jemma, "And your humor," he said to Fitz, "Always keeps me going. And I know that this little girl," he picked up Alya and flung her on top of his back, "has the best parents that will do anything. In a few years if a boy does anything, just give me the call and I'll have the entire fleet on him." Mack said to Fitz, Fitz solemnly nodded, both of the guys completely serious in the agreement. Jemma just rolled her eyes. "Mini Turbo, you take care, okay?"

"Okay Uncle Mack!" 

Coulson was next in the line of goodbyes. "I'm still trying to figure out how I feel, the not really being a person thing, but I am grateful for it, for a chance for a part of me to see you all safe and sound again, and watch this little one grow up." he said as he was holding Alya. "So thank you two for bringing a part of me back."

"Thank you for being a good example for me, for how to raise Alya," Fitz choked up, thinking to how of all of his father or brother figures over the years, Coulson was the only one who had stuck by him. 

Coulson smiled and hugged Fitz and Jemma, "It was an honor to watch both of you grow." They parted and nodded, tears glistening in everyone's eyes.

Daisy cleared her throat and stepped forward, "Wow." A tear started falling down her cheek, a matching one on Jemma's. "Fitzsimmons. We've been on this field agent journey together since the very beginning. And you've truly been like siblings to me. It's been an honor to have a brother and a sister as amazing as you, even though it took you way too long to figure out that you loved each other, for God's sake Fitz you had a crush on me!" Sousa looked amused at the last couple sentences, but didn't say anything. Daisy hugged the two, and for a moment, they were the bus kids again, mocking Grant Ward, hanging out in the lab on the bus, the only things they had to worry about being 084 retrieval. Their hug lasted a long time and when they separated they were each who they had grown to be.

Skye a hacker, now Daisy Johnson, a superhero who saved lives. 

Jemma Simmons, a biochemist who had wanted to try to go out in the field, now a fierce and formidable woman named Jemma Fitz-Simmons, her most important accomplishment being her daughter. 

Fitz, the loyal engineer who was socially awkward and barely able to shoot someone without sobbing, now willing to do anything to get to the woman and child whom he loved, using the fierceness of his loyalty to his advantage. 

The three broke apart eventually, wiping tears from all of their ears. "I'll see you soon squirt," Daisy said to Alya, who was now in her father's arms. "God, I can't believe you're retiring, old man." she said trying to lighten up the situation. 

"Well, we are pushing 40," Fitz said nonchalantly. 

Everyone stopped and stared at them, "What?!" Daisy asked.

"Time travel," Fitz said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

"It's time to get you three moving," May interrupted, she didn't want to drop them off at midnight. 

"Right," Jemma replied. "Can you say goodbye to all of your aunts and uncles Alya?" Alya screamed her goodbyes at all of them while Fitz, Jemma, and May walked up into the quintet, Alya still in Fitz arms. 

~~~~~

Alya was asleep on Fitz, as it was her nap time, and they were a couple of hours out from showing up on Fitz's mum's doorstep. "You okay?" 

"Yah, I just feel guilty. It was just my mum and me, you know? And then I left, and have barely been able to call her, I can only imagine what she's going through."

"Well for her, didn't you call her last week?" Jemma tried pointing out. 

"Yah, for the first time in a year and a half. And then she'll know that technically Alya did not exist last week because I would've probably mentioned it," Fitz pointed out bitterly.

"Hey, look at me." 

Fitz looked at Jemma, "We're making it right _now_. And that's all that matters now, you and I both know that she could never hate you, you're her little Leo Lion." Jemma teased. 

"Jemma," Fitz groaned. 

"Leopold." 

"Stop."

"Leopold James."

"Simmons, I am begging you, stop."

"You're mum calls you Leo and sometimes _even_ Leopold, I'm _your wife_ , I think I deserve to be able to call you by your first name," she teased. 

Fitz was quiet for a moment, "You can call me whatever you want Jem. You deserve to be able to call me whatever you want to call me."

"Oh Fitz, no, no, I know it still makes you flinch, I would never want to do that to you, besides after 20 years, it'd be a little weird to start calling you anything other than Fitz." Jemma pointed out.

"Thank God," Fitz said relieved, kissing her. 

"I love you Leopold James Fitz-Simmons," Fitz wrinkled his nose and Jemma spoke again, "I love you Fitz Fitz-Simmons." They both laughed. 

"I love you Jemma Anne Fitz-Simmons. You can call me whatever you want as long as there is a Fitz-Simmons somewhere in it."

~~~~~

They had landed, it was night time in Glasgow, which was probably for the best considering Alya was still wary around the sun. "Well this is where I leave you," May stated, having helped bring the luggage to the doorstep.

Jemma hugged her, "Thank you, for everything." 

May nodded and then bent down to talk to Alya, "I'm going to have to go Alya, but I'll see you soon, okay?" 

"Don't go Aunt Mindy!" Alya wailed, latching on to her leg. 

"You and your parents are going to have so much fun though! I'll see you soon Alya." she repeated. Alya nodded, and hugged her Aunt one last time. May straightened up and turned her attention to Fitzsimmons, "I've been curious, Alya Melinda? I'm honored, but why?" 

"It was Fitz's idea actually," Jemma said. May looked surprised, clearly that wasn't the one out of the two she had expected to have brought it up, "You and Coulson both have been such mentors towards us over the years, believing in us, in our relationship, saving us several times in the process, might I add. We thought about Pippa but it didn't have the same ring to it, plus, we thought we'd save Phillip for if there was another one on the way." 

May smiled, "I am so honored." She hugged the couple one last time, "Like I said, I'll always be looking for guest lecturers!" she called over her shoulder. Fitz and Simmons just laughed, and turned to the door that was in front of them. 

Alya was hiding behind Jemma's leg, overwhelmed after meeting so many new people. Jemma squeezed Fitz's hand and nodded, he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. A few minutes later none other than Linda Fitz was standing before them, her jaw on the ground. "Leo!" she said excitedly. "Leo, how dare you not come visit! One call last week and thats it! That was the first time in what 2 years?! I had no idea..." she trailed off when she saw Fitz fiddling with a ring on his finger, something Fitz now always does, but a very new habit to her, she looked at Jemma who had a ring around her finger as well and her arm was around Fitz's waist. "Well you finally did it! It took you long enough! I called it! I told Fitz when he first brought you home that one summer, I knew it, I told him that you two were in love and would get married!" She said with a smug smirk on her lips, not unlike the one that her son so often wore. "Of course Jemma it's always a pleasure to see you! I hope you've been keeping him in line. Of course I understand that I couldn't be there for the wedding, but that's not to say that I'm not sad that I wasn't invited." Linda Fitz who was spitting out words a million miles a minute, with ever changing moods, much like what Fitz had predicted she'd do. Linda Fitz's eyes finally trailed down to the set of wide blue eyes that matched her own and the one's on her son. "Leopold Fitz, am I a grandmother?"

Fitz nodded meekly, "Surprise?" 

Linda bent down with a kind smile and kind eyes and greeted the little girl, "Hello, I'm you da's mum, so I'm your Nana, what's your name?" 

Jemma nodded at the little girl, Alya took a deep breath and said, "Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons."

"Alya, now that's a very pretty name. And you finally made it official," she said to the adults, "Fitz-Simmons. It suits her." 

"Well both of us legally changed our names," Fitz explained.

"Now Alya, how old are you?"

"Almost 3 and a half!" She exclaimed. 

"Leopold Fitz!" she snapped. 

"Leopold Fitz-Simmons," he weakly corrected. 

"Are you trying to tell me that you have known you were going to be a father for over 4 years?! And you neglected to tell your mother!"

"It's complicated." 

Linda sighed exasperated and finally pulled the small little family into a big group hug, "Welcome home, all three of you."

~~~~~

Fitz and Jemma had put Alya to sleep in Fitz's childhood bedroom and now were having a late night cup of tea with Linda. Jemma was slumped on Fitz's chest, rubbing his ring, while Linda sat across from them, very confused but nonetheless very happy for the kids she had watched grow up. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you two start dating about 3 years ago?" She brought up.

"Yes," Jemma started.

"But no." Fitz finished. 

"We had another one of those world ending scenarios, and the only way to solve it was for Fitz and I go to a secluded location and try to invent time travel. But, when we had Alya we focused less and less on the mission and more and more on her. But eventually we all had to travel back to 2019, to carry out what needed to be done. We did it."

"And now we're done with S.H.I.E.L.D, forever..." Fitz added on as and afterthought, "Technically Alya isn't even born yet."

Linda wasn't too surprised at what her son had just said, from what she heard, which was very much the abbreviated version of really happened, it was a traumatic and grueling job, and now they had too much to loose. "What are you going to do?" 

"Well we were hoping maybe you would want to watch Alya tomorrow? So we could go house shopping?" Jemma asked. 

"You're moving here?!" Linda, asked. Barely able to contain her excitement, her baby boy had been in America since he was 14, only visiting once or twice a year, which significantly went down as he climbed the ranks in S.H.I.E.L.D. 

"Well not here, but Perthshire most likely," Fitz added on quickly.

"That's close enough! Why Perthshire?" she asked, curious. 

"Its a little over an hour away from you, and it's just been a dream I've had since before we got together." Jemma admitted. 

Linda was sure that she didn't know half of all the traumas that her kids had faced, but watching them, so at ease with each other, sitting next to each other as if they were made to be together, she couldn't be prouder. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to take into account that while we were traveling I would be very, very bored, soooo, fics that are updated regularly it is it seems!  
> I finally gave up on the whole naming the chapters cleverly with star in the title, considering that they don't actually live in the stars any more... rip...  
> I didn't have access to internet for awhile and when I did I got 7 new comments which was crazy! I just wanted to let you all know that I do really appreciate all of the feedback you have for me, so keep em' coming! I also love when you give suggestions for future chapters or separate one shots/au's!  
> I hope you have a lovely rest of your day/night!


	15. House-Hunting in Perthshire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitz-Simmons family go House Hunting!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I missed yesterday's post! It's been a rough couple of days and I needed a break! I promise I'll be back to regular updates of wholesome chapters tomorrow!!

“We’ll be right back okay sweetie? Your nana and you are going to have so much fun! You’ll barely notice that we were gone at all.” The Fitz-Simmons family still had major separation anxiety, and Jemma didn’t want to leave Alya ever again. But, she didn’t trust Fitz to look for a house himself, and she wanted to be there with him when they did find it. So Fitz and Jemma begrudgingly agreed that Linda would babysit her while they were out looking for their new home. 

“Okay!”

“Be a good girl monkey.” Fitz said tickling her stomach, and planting a kiss on her head, before passing her off to his mum. Linda watched all of this, ecstatic that her son had taken to being a father so well. The last few times she had seen him, or even spoken to him, he seemed traumatized and would jump at every little thing, dark circles under his eyes, his hands shaking. Jemma reassured him that this was perfectly normal and was a side effect of his brain injury, but Jemma herself had a worried tone in her voice, like she was trying to convince both of them. But now, his bright blue eyes twinkled, he smiled all the time, and he showered both Jemma and Alya with so much love she thought her house was going to explode.

“Best not to take her outside quite yet, we’re working on it, but she’s a little scared of the outdoors-don’t ask. Her nap time should be at 3, but she’ll be a little jet lagged so don’t worry if she goes down earlier or later, we’ll work on getting back on schedule soon. Umm, she’ll need Mr. Monkey when she goes down... Am I forgetting anything Fitz?” Jemma asked him.

“I think you’ve got it all.”

“Alright, bye honey!” Jemma finally said as Fitz pulled her out of the door. Fitz closed the door behind them and immediate pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Jemma was so taken off guard, that she almost fell down the stairs. Once she got her footing, she kissed him just as fiercely. They broke apart before it could get too heated, being responsible adults for once. “What was that for?” Jemma asked.

“I love you, I love our family, I love our future,” Fitz told her, their foreheads touching.

“I love you too, I love it all.” Jemma responded. “Let’s go find our home.”

“Anywhere’s home as long as I’m with you and Alya,” Fitz said, grinning cheekily. Jemma rolled her eyes.

They got in Fitz’s mum’s car and started driving off to the first address on their list. When Fitz started driving away from the house, Jemma couldn’t help it, tears started pouring down her face. Fitz immediately stopped the car and awkwardly held her in his arms, “Hey she’ll be okay.” He said, stroking her hair.

“I’m sorry,” Jemma sobbed out.

“It’s okay, we can do this another day,” Fitz said waving it off.

“No, I want to move, I want to do this with you, I just, it’s just, I can’t help thinking about the last time I left her,” Jemma admitted.

“And she was perfectly alright,” Fitz tried to reason, although he didn’t blame Jemma one bit, he was even having problems leaving and he hadn’t had to do what Jemma had done. Jemma stopped loudly crying and took deep breaths into Fitz’s shoulder. “Alright?”

“Alright,” Jemma confirmed wiping off the tears from her eyes.

“Are we leaving?”

Jemma took a breath, “Yah.”

Fitz squeezed her hand as he pulled out, “She’ll be okay, this is what my mum does for a living!”

Jemma gave out a chuckle, appreciative of her husband for always knowing what she needed, psychic link or no.

~~~~~

It was a little over an hour later and Fitz was almost to their first address from their list but together by Daisy.

_Here,” Daisy had said._

_“What is this?” Jemma asked._

_“I put together lists of cottages in Perthshire that I thought you would like, your search history may have had apartments back then but there were also lot’s of Perthshire cottages so I assumed-“ Daisy was cut off by Jemma engulfing her in a hug._

_“Thank you,” Jemma whispered._

“Hey Jem,” Fitz said softly, to not startle her up. 

“Mmm?” A sleeping Jemma responded.

“I think we’re here,” Fitz said.

Jemma rubbed her eyes and opened them to an expanse of trees, they rounded a corner and there was a quaint cottage, big enough for a growing family, a shed in the back, and a huge garden for when Alya got used to the sun and the grass. “Oh Fitz.”

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Fitz agreed. “Do you want to go check it out?”

Jemma nodded, getting out of the door. Fitz and Jemma clasped hands, walking up to the front door of the cottage. Fitz was about to open the door with the key code they had been given by the current owners but Jemma had stopped him. “Fitz, look.”

There was an envelope taped to the door, with ‘Fitzsimmons’ written in cursive. Fitz carefully took it down and looked at Jemma who nodded at him, he opened it, reading it aloud for the both of them.

_Fitzsimmons, (or should we say Fitz-Simmons now?)_

_You have done so much for us, the both of you. Wether it’s solve problems with your genius brains, giving us hope, or making us crack a smile in dark times. S.H.I.E.L.D thanks you, but more importantly the team thanks you. We hope this can help you give Alya a better life, and make all those sacrifices you had to make while we were gone worth it. We all love you and miss you already, give Alya a hug for us._

_P.S. Daisy is making me tell you that this was her idea._

_P.P.S. There’s a surprise in the shed for the two of you, and multiple surprises for Alya scattered around the house._

_The keys are on the breakfast nook table._

_Love,_

_Your Family._

Fitz and Jemma couldn’t breathe, “The keys?” Fitz whispered.

“Open the door, Fitz,” Jemma said softly, in equal disbelief.

Fitz imputed the code and opened the door, there was their dream home, and it was theirs?

Jemma took one look at the cottage, decorated simply but beautifully, a homey feel and not enclosed with metal walls. “Fitz, this was, was exactly what I imagined. This place, this dream, it’s what got me through Maveth,” she said breathlessly. 

“Jemma.” Fitz, for the second time today kissed his wife, a kiss full of so much love and excitement for their future in their new home.

Jemma pushed herself off of him with a lot of will power, “Let’s wait till we’ve seen the whole house.”

“Fine,” Fitz muttered giving her another quick kiss. The couple strolled along their new house, already in love with it even though they had only seen part of it, there on the breakfast nook was a bowl of lemons and next to it were the keys. “Lemons,” Fitz said with a sad chuckle.

“I miss him.” Jemma said.

Fitz suddenly realized he hadn’t told her about his conversation with Deke. “Jemma, I talked to Deke, we hugged and I said I was sorry, and that I was proud of him, and that I loved him.” Fitz shakily admitted, he may have had his closure, but he still regretted how he had treated him.

Jemma’s forlorn look softened into a smile as she brought him close, “He knows, he’s probably living it up as a famous rockstar. Whenever we start to miss him, just imagine him showing up at 15 year old Fitz and Simmons doorstep, recruiting them for S.H.I.E.L.D., giving specific instructions to their teachers to partner them together for everything.”

Fitz took a deep breath and lifted his head up so Jemma could see him as he cracked a smile, “Yah, he would do that, wouldn’t he?”

“Come on, let’s continue the tour.”

“Bloody hell,” Fitz muttered when he opened the door to what was clearly Alya’s room. It was filled with toys everywhere you looked.

“Alya will love it,” Jemma reminded him.

“Yah but, wow.” Fitz said in disbelief at how many toys they fit in there. "I'll need to tell them to cut back."

"You know they'll never listen!" Jemma chirped.

~~~~~

They were back down in the living room, lounging on the couch talking about it all. “Do you want to check out the shed and then head back? Move tomorrow?”Fitz asked. Jemma nodded.

They went to the old shed that had an old key pad to get in. Fitz flipped it open but it wasn’t an old key pad, it was a fingerprint scanner, “Oh no,” Fitz muttered. Jemma placed her hand on the scanner like they had done a million times before, the doors opened and on the inside was a state of the art lab. “Bribery much?” Fitz asked, thinking back to May and Mack’s offers.

“Hush, look how nice it is! Fitz, we have our own lab!” Jemma giddily squealed.

Fitz’s frown immediately turned upside down when he saw how happy Jemma was, it was nice he admitted, they hadn’t had a lab together, just the two of them since the bus, on the Zephyr, Enoch was always stepping on their toes, but he did miss the robot still. “What do you say we go tell Alya the good news?”

Jemma’s smile shone brilliantly, as she nodded.

~~~~~

“Alya?” Jemma asked as she walked through Linda’s front door.

“Mama!” Alya came from the kitchen with chocolate smudged all over her face as she ran into her mother’s arms. Fitz couldn’t help but notice the parallel to their reuniting a couple days ago, this one on much less scary circumstances.

Jemma tried to clean off the chocolate remnants on her face, “Did Nana let you have chocolate?”

Alya nodded, smiling, “Uh-huh!”

Linda came in the room, “If I don’t spoil my grandchild, what kind of Nana am I?”

Fitz smiled at his mum, so naturally fitting into her role, “How was she?” He asked.

“Perfect.”

Fitz rolled his eyes, but he didn’t doubt it, Alya was perfect. A perfect blend of him and the person he loved most, Jemma. But Alya was also all her own, his stubborn blue eyed monkey.

“Guess what monkey?” Fitz asked, going to join Jemma and Alya on the floor.

“What?!” Alya squealed.

“We found a house!” Fitz told her.

Alya looked from her dad, to her mum, to her grandma, “So are we leaving?” She asked, a little sad.

“Yes sweetie,” Jemma said smoothing out Alya’s hair.

“But, we’ll only be an hour away from Nana! That’s not far at all,” Fitz exclaimed.

“You are?” Linda asked, unable to hide her excitement at having her family close to her. She then started thinking, “How did you get a house so quickly?”

“Our team surprised us with a cottage, the tricky basta-“

“Fitz!” Jemma exclaimed, reminding him that he was in the presence of his young, impressionable, innocent daughter. He shut his mouth as his mum tried stifling a laugh, it didn’t work very well.

~~~~~

Fitz and Jemma tucked in their daughter for the last time in Fitz’s mum’s house. “Night sweetie,” Jemma said, kissing her head.

“G’night monkey,” Fitz said in turn, kissing her head and turning to leave with Jemma.

“Where’s Uncle Enoch?” Fitz and Jemma shared a sorrowful look, knowing that the distraction and adrenaline of so many new things had worn off and caused her to think clearly, they turned around and both joined Alya in her bed, Alya nestled between the two. “He normally watches me when you are working,” Alya insisted.

“That’s right sweet girl.” Jemma said, smoothing out her white-blonde hair.

“You know that Enoch left with mama, right?” Fitz asked.

“But mama came back!” Alya pointed out.

“I came back because of Enoch. He stayed behind so that I could get back to you. He was very brave,” Jemma tried to explain.

“When is he coming back?” Alya asked.

“Oh sweet girl, he, he-“

“Isn’t” Fitz finished softly.

“Oh.” Alya had tears falling slowly down her cheeks, as her parents wiped them away and held her. “I hope I can be as brave as him,” Alya said after calming down.

“You already are. My brave, brave, girl,” Jemma whispered.

~~~~~

“Are you ready, Alya?” Fitz asked, it was the next day and they had immediately bought a car and a car seat so they could start their new chapter in their new home as a family. They were rounding the corner and Alya was about to see the home, luckily it was a gray and cloudy day, so she wouldn’t be too off put by the sun.

“Yah!”

They rounded the corner, “Welcome home Alya!” Jemma said.

“Wow,” Alya whispered, looking at the field of grass and trees surrounding the home, the most green she’d ever seen in her whole life most likely.

Jemma unbuckled her daughter and hiked her up on her hip, feeling for the first time, like a normal mother. Fitz kissed her head, and then swiftly kissed Alya’s head in the one motion that he had gotten so used to doing.

“Come on monkey!” he said taking Alya from Jemma’s arms and placing her on his shoulders. Alya squealed as she bounced up and down as her father ran to the front door. Jemma laughed at the sight of her daughter and her husband having so much fun, she chased after them and put her arms around Fitz.

After the tour of the downstairs they took Alya up to her room, to where her aunts, uncles, and Grandpa Coulson had spoiled her. She squealed and ran over to a microscope on a desk, immediately looking through it, even though there was no slide underneath it. Fitz and Jemma laughed and looked lovingly at their daughter, they kissed quickly and then they went over to Alya to help her look through the microscope.

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the support and bearing with me, sorry it's a shorter chapter but I still needed a little bit of a break. Please feel free to leave comments/suggestions/ or kudos! Thank you so so much!  
> Have a lovely day!


	16. Christmas in Perthshire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya's first Christmas in Perthshire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO if you are reading this along with when I am posting it, I realized that I never had a chapter where Christmas happens, I kinda just forgot that seasons were a thing for a hot second, whoops! So I'm inserting it in now, enjoy this small little ficlet.

"But Santa can actually come to us, since we don't live in the stars anymore!" Alya screamed when her parents had told her it was almost her bed time.

Fitz and Jemma exchanged a look over their daughters head, their situation broke their heart especially when Alya used it against them. "Okay sweetie, how about we put out some milk, and you can help me bake cookies?"

Alya instantly smiled, "Okay! Can I stay up and try to catch Santa?"

"No monkey, Santa doesn't come when you're awake, so it'd be pointless to try, and if you're awake the _whole_ time, then Santa won't come, especially for 3 year olds, maybe when you're four we can try it." Fitz said, kindly. 

"I'm 4 in a little bit though!" Alya insisted.

"A couple months is not a little bit!" Fitz retorted back.

"We make cookies and then bed, deal?" Jemma said firmly. 

Alya nodded glumly but Fitz bent down and said, "Y'know I don't think Santa needs _all_ the cookies. Maybe if you're a good girl for mummy she'll let us eat some cookies before bedtime.

So the family set to work making the best cookies 'Santa' had ever eaten. Flour on each of their faces, the family danced around their kitchen, singing their hearts out along with classic Christmas songs. 

~~~~~

"Mmm smells good, doesn't it?" Fitz said, Alya curled into his side, fighting to keep her eyes open as it was way passed her bed time at this point. Fitz chuckled and Jemma got up from her chair to go check if they needed to be taken out yet. Jemma quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Fitz and Alya, smiling at Fitz rubbing her small back, Alya's little hands holding onto his sweater. 

Jemma placed the cookies on a Christmas plate and took them out, "Alya darling," she whispered. 

"I'm awake mummy!" Alya reassured, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. 

"Do you want a cookie?" Alya immediately straightened and nodded, as Jemma handed her one. "Careful they're hot love," Jemma warned. 

Fitz happily took two, "Daddy!" Alya shrieked. "You can only have one, we have to save some for Santa!"

Jemma stifled a giggle and nodded seriously, "Yes Fitz, only one." Jemma winked knowing that Fitz would be happy to play the role of Santa that night.

Fitz put a cookie back and the three happily sat eating their late night snack. Well, late night for Alya. Alya finished her cookie and settled back into Fitz side, "Alright monkey, let's get you to bed. The sooner you sleep, the sooner Santa comes," he smiled. He got up and went upstairs, tucking her into bed. "G'night monkey," Fitz whispered, planting a kiss on Alya's forehead.

"Story?" Alya asked. 

"No, monkey." 

Fitz said as Jemma said, "Yes!" at the same time. 

Fitz looked back at his wife, "Didn't realize you came up."

"Have to make sure we do all of the traditions," Jemma passed Alya a present. "Here sweet girl. Happy Christmas!" She smiled brightly and sat next in Alya's bed, Fitz joined her, and held the two of them against him.

Alya smiled and sat up, suddenly wide awake. She ripped into the parcel and threw aside the wrapping paper on the floor, inside were three books, an astronomy book, a biology book, and a classic children's story book, 'The Night Before Christmas'. 

"Thank you mummy!" she said, hugging the books to her chest tightly. She shoved 'The Night Before Christmas' into Jemma's hands and asked, "Could you please read it for me?!"

"Of course." Alya climbed into Fitz's lap, and Jemma leaned her head on Fitz's shoulder as she starting reading the book to Alya. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night," she whispered as she finished. 

She smiled at Fitz with a knowing smile, both hearing the soft sighs coming from Alya that meant she was fast asleep. Fitz carefully tucked her back in and the two of them left the room, closing the door quietly. "Hopefully that means she won't come jumping into our bed at 4 in the morning." Fitz smirked, kissing her.

"Oh come on Fitz! That's the fun of Christmas!" she hissed after him as they both headed back downstairs. 

"The book was a nice touch, but what even is the big deal with Christmas anyways?" Fitz shook his head sitting back down on the couch. 

"Christmas is my favorite holiday, and you know it, Leo." Jemma said, crossing her arms, standing above him. 

"I've never understood it. It's always just meant a new Doctor Who episode and that was it." Fitz continued on with his rant.

"I know. Why do you think that is Fitz?" she asked seriously, sitting down next to him at this point. 

"I dunno. After dad left, it kind of just lost it's magic. Did you know that my mum and him got engaged on Christmas day?" Fitz asked Jemma. 

Jemma nodded, "I had forgotten." 

"It was a hard day for her, it lost it's magic for her, and through that it lost it's magic for me too. Ever since it's always been a little bit overrated for me." 

Jemma nodded, they had had this conversation before, but it was still good to have every once and awhile, but normally she would feel bad for him and just try to change his mind, this time she had an eloquent response, "Well now we have our own family, that can make it's own new magic at Christmas. Because it's a time to celebrate being together, family, and how much we love each other, okay?" Fitz smiled, and nodded, he leaned over and kissed her slowly and deeply, a prolonged kiss. "Alright, enough of that!" Jemma declared, lightly pushing him away. She laughed lightly at the look Fitz was giving her, "We have to be Santa," She explained, putting out her hand to help him out. Fitz grinned and put his hand out but he missed Jemma's hand. "What are you doing?"

Fitz's hand came back to his side, holding the plate of cookies, "You said I have to be Santa!" He shoved a cookie down his throat, "Could you please get me a glass of milk, Mrs. Clause?" 

Jemma rolled her eyes, but went and got the milk anyway, just so Alya would see that she had put out a glass of milk after she had gone to bed. 

~~~~~

They finished placing their presents under the tree, quite an easy task, what was a bit harder was dragging all of the many delivered presents they had been getting in the past couple weeks from everyone, since none of the team could be here in person for Christmas. Fitz's mum was coming in the afternoon, Jemma's parents would come the day after that, and then everyone from the team would show up if they could, whenever they could. Jemma hoped they would come, but she was secretly and selfishly glad to have the morning to themselves. Like she had told Fitz a few hours before, making new magic as a family. 

Fitz came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, "I think that's everything, unless we get another package from Mack in the middle of the night," Fitz rolled his eyes. 

Jemma and Fitz stood at the window, enjoying the warmth of the inside and each other, looking out at the snow beginning to fall. "It's beautiful," Jemma breathed. 

"Yah, Jems." A few minutes passed till Fitz spoke again, "Y'know if this is the magic of Christmas that you're talking about, I could get used to it."

Jemma turned and looked up at him, smiling, "You mean it?" 

"It's still overrated, don't get me wrong, but, it's nice."

Jemma smiled slyly, "Nice?" 

"Magnificent?" Fitz offered. 

Jemma laughed, "Better."

"A Doctor Who episode before bed?" Fitz asked. 

"Old Christmas special?!"

Fitz laughed, "Sure."

The two watched their Doctor Who wrapped in each other's arms, under blankets. The two headed up to bed shortly afterword, knowing that Alya would come wake them up as soon as she could get up. 

~~~~~

"SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME! SANTA CAME!" Alya yelled as she ran into Fitz and Jemma's room. She jumped on the bed and on the two of them. Jemma laughed brightly and pulled Alya down to cuddle next to her.

"Did he now?" 

"Yes! And he must have brought some presents from Uncle Mack, Aunt Mindy, Aunt Yoyo, Aunt Daisy, Grandpa Coulson, and Uncle Daniel for me as well!" Alya said excitedly. 

"So Santa works like amazon now?" Fitz grumbled against his pillows. 

Alya paused and considered Fitz's idea, "I guess one night a year, he does!" 

"Happy Christmas Alya." 

"Happy Christmas mummy!" Alya laid still, cuddling with her mother for about 3 seconds, "Can we go open presents now?!" she asked excitedly. 

"You'll have to wake up your father first," Jemma said, motioning over to where Fitz had already begun snoring again.

"Easy!" Alya jumped on her dad and screamed, "HAPPY CHRISTMAS DADDY!" 

Fitz groaned, "Owww."

"He's up!" Alya yelled. 

Jemma giggled, "Why don't we go make some hot chocolate while we let daddy get up, and then presents?" 

Alya's lip quivered, "But daddy will fall back asleep!" Alya wailed.

"No he won't, because he knows that if he did, he'd get a 3 year old's boney knees into his back as his wake up call, right honey?" 

"Right," Fitz's muffled voice came from underneath the blankets. 

~~~~~

Fitz came down pretty soon after the girls came down, he grabbed his hot chocolate from Jemma gratefully, walked over to where Alya was shaking the presents and kissed her head, "Happy Christmas, monkey." 

He sat down next to Jemma, putting his arm around her. Alya couldn't wait a second longer, "Can I open them now?!" The parents laughed and nodded.

As Alya was digging into the presents Jemma murmured to Fitz, "You have the D.W.A.R.V.E.S. going on somewhere around here right? I just know Daisy's going to ask to see her reaction." 

Fitz nodded and held up the tablet with the video feed, "Yee of little faith."

"I have complete faith in you," Jemma said, as if it was absurd that he would even suggest the idea, it really was. 

~~~~~

They were sitting in the aftermath of the presents and wrapping paper. Fitz got up, "Oh! One more! I had forgotten." Alya danced around the trash and presents, excited for one more present. Jemma made a face, unsure of what this one was. She went through a list of everything they had gotten her, and then everything that had come in the mail from someone else, there wasn't anything else. 

Fitz came out with a regular looking box, and set it in front of Alya, smiling, "Happy Christmas monkey." 

Alya opened the box and there was a contraption, she stared at it for a long time, looking at it from every angle, determined to figure it out, until she finally gave up, "What is it?"

"Can you go turn off all the lights for me?" Fitz asked her. 

Alya nodded and ran off to go do as she was told, curious to find out what the machine did. "You didn't tell me about this," Jemma stated. 

"Forgot." 

"You forgot that you made something for our daughter?" 

Fitz shrugged, "Or I wanted it to be a surprise." Jemma gave a quizzical look at him but before she could question him further Alya ran back having turned all the lights off. Fitz pointed towards a hidden button, "Okay Alya, push that button." 

Alya nodded and pressed it, suddenly the celling had a very impressive hologram projected on to it, Alya immediately recognized it, "Alya!" she squealed. 

"Oh Fitz, it's home!" Perthshire was their new home, but their first home together as a family was the star system Alya. Alya immediately started pointing out the stars that she recognized. Fitz nodded and sat next to Jemma and sat on the couch next to them, "Thank you Fitz," she whispered. 

"Thank you daddy!" Alya squealed and sat in his lap, continuing to rattle off the names of the stars. 

"You are so very welcome Alya." 

~~~~~

The rest of Christmas Day was certainly magical, the small family played in the snow, and then had a Christmas dinner with Mrs. Fitz, they finished out their day with the Doctor Who Christmas special. And it was all perfect. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't been posting as much. School's stressful, and as soon who doesn't handle stress well this story kind of got pushed to the side. THIS STORY IS NOT OVER YET! Even though I'm not posting as much, it's still going strong, I promise!  
> Thank you all for the continued support even when I haven't been as reliable.  
> Sorry it's so short, I need a filler for this moment, the next one I have a feeling will be extremely long!  
> Feel free to leave comments/kudos/suggestions!  
> Tumblr: bookscoffeerainyday


	17. Happy Little Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Jemma decide to let her parents into her new life?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay!!! I've finally figured out a system! I will be posting every other day!!! With the craziness of my life right now and school starting back up (virtually, stay safe everyone!), I wasn't happy with the quality of my last couple posts because I wasn't focusing on quality just quantity, I've decided the former is way more important to me!

Fitz woke up and smiled at his surroundings, the Perthshire sun was making a rare appearance and streaming through the window's partly closed light blue curtains. He put his arm out to pull Jemma closer to him but groaned when he realized she had already made her way downstairs. He laid there in bed, hearing the birds chirp and Alya's giggle from downstairs, the smell of pancakes rafting up the stairs. He dragged himself out of bed, and ignored the closet, too lazy to get dressed quite yet. Fitz shuffled down the stairs of their new cottage, they had lived there for about a month but they already knew this was their forever home, and their little family couldn't be happier. Fitz made his way to the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Jemma's waist, who was at the stove making pancakes. He kissed her cheek and grumbled something that slightly resembled "Good morning." Fitz then rested his head on her shoulder, happy to fall back asleep right then and there-he was not a morning person. 

"Morning!" Jemma chirped. "I didn't even have to set Alya on you to get you up!"

"Aww," Alya said, sad that she didn't get to wake up her grumpy dad.

"Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure he'll nap at some point today, and if not there's always tomorrow!" 

"Yay!" Alya cheered.

Fitz turned to his daughter, who was sitting at the breakfast nook eating her pancakes, "That's no way to greet your dad," Fitz pretended to scowl. 

"Sorry daddy, morning!" Alya chirped, much like her mother. 

Fitz slid into the seat next to her and kissed her head, ruffling her hair, "Mornin' Monkey,"

"Do you want some pancakes Lion?" Alya asked sweetly. 

Fitz gave a confused and horrified look, "Lion?"

"Mummy said..." Alya trailed away when she saw the look her mum was giving her. 

"Mummy said what?" Fitz looked at Alya who was suddenly busying herself with her pancakes, "Jemma?" Fitz asked. 

"Well last night, when you were sketching out those plans before you came out and joined us when we were stargazing, I was showing Alya the constellations and when I told her about Leo the Lion, I might have let it slip that your name is Leopo-" Jemma stopped when she saw Fitz's face and quickly corrected herself, "Leo." 

Fitz sighed and put his hands on his face, as he often did when he was exasperated. He felt a soft pair of lips on his forehead and small hands around his neck. Fitz slowly lowered his hands and saw his daughter, concerned at her tired dad. "Let's just stick to daddy okay monkey?" he asked, kissing her forehead in turn and slinging her on to his back. 

Alya giggled and squealed, "Okay daddy!" 

~~~~~

It was Alya's nap time and she was very tired from a busy day of looking for new insects and studying plants, she had taken to biochem quite well once she had gotten used to the sun and the grass, yet she always put on her trusty hat and sunglasses, and refused to wear any other pairs they had offered her. Jemma was reading a scientific article on the couch, with Fitz laying down across the couch, his head on her lap. Her arm was resting on his chest and he instinctively was clutching on to it, they still hadn't quite recovered from their former traumas, and sometimes they found themselves hanging on to the other one as their anchor, even though the most they were away from each other was to the grocery store. Fitz stared up at his wife's darting eyes, fully sucked into whatever biochem thing she was reading. Her nose wrinkled, making her freckles more prominent, she had stopped wearing makeup so they were as clear as ever, and he loved it all. His mum visited about 3 times a week, letting the family have their time together, and Fitz and Jemma were so grateful to her, they understood what it was like to be away from their child and appreciated that she wasn't over 24/7. 

"Jem?"

"Mmh?" she said, not really paying attention to him. 

Fitz took the article from her hands and asked, "Have you given any thought to seeing your parents?" 

Jemma looked at him surprised, he had said whenever she was comfortable but, she sighed, he was probably right to bring it up again or she would've pretended to forget about it for the rest of her years, "No," she admitted. 

Fitz sat up and looked her in the eyes, "I meant it when I said whenever you're comfortable, but then I just think, what if Alya left and we never heard from her again? I'd always worry about her and wonder what had happened, no matter how I showed how much I loved her." he said, adding that last part to be more applicable to Jemma. 

Jemma stared at a picture on the mantle, Enoch had taken it when Alya was born, neither had noticed it, and were quite surprised when he had presented it to them his only explanation being, _'Humans like mementos and pictures to remember moments when they were at their happiest state.'_ The chronicom was right about one thing, that was the happiest day of both of their lives, Jemma crying happily, holding her daughter, leaning on Fitz, who was grinning so brilliantly and stupidly, so much love in his eyes for little Alya who was holding his finger as tight as she could. "I'll call them," Jemma decided.

"Good," Fitz kissed her hair and handed her the phone, "I'm right here." Jemma settled herself into Fitz's arms, needing the comfort of her best friend for whatever was about to occur. Jemma dialed the number-hoping that they had the same number, or maybe she hoped they didn't, she couldn't be sure.

Jemma pressed the call button and put it on speaker so that it would be easier for Fitz to hear. She heard the dial tone ring once, twice, three times, four times, five times, by the sixth time Jemma had almost given up until she heard "Hello, who is this?" 

"Hi mum," she managed out without crying, Fitz rubbed her shoulders to remind her that he was there. 

"Jemma?! Oh thank god you're alive!" Jemma's mum exclaimed, sobbing.

A tear came out of Jemma's eye, "Yah mum, I'm alive. I'm so sorry."

Jemma's mum couldn't bring herself to speak she was too busy sobbing, for the next five minutes all that the Fitz-Simmons heard were sobs coming from the other side. Fitz and Jemma teared up a little, horrified that they had put her through so much pain. "Paul!" she managed to yell for Jemma's father.

"What is it?" they heard distantly.

"Jemma," Mrs. Simmons weakly explained. 

"Hi dad," Jemma said. 

"Jemma?"

"Yah, I'm so sorry."

"But, but, last we heard you, you were a fugitive! And then the next thing we heard that boy Leo broke out of prison, but there was still no word from you, we thought maybe you'd be with him, but, but you weren't, and we thought, I thought, I thought my little girl had di-" he stopped himself, he couldn't bring himself to say the words. 

"I'm alive," Jemma said weakly, knowing that nothing would make up for the time she had excluded her parents out of her life. She decided to stretch the truth for her parents, Fitz's mum had had an emotional breakdown a couple weeks after they told her, once it all set in, and she didn't think her parents could handle it, "S.H.I.E.L.D. made us go underground, it was too much of a risk, we couldn't speak to anyone from our old life. But we quit, we're done."

"Thank God!" Jemma's mum exclaimed. 

"We?" Jemma's dad asked. 

"Fitz and I."

"Fitz?" 

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Simmons," Fitz spoke up shyly. 

"So it worked out between you two?" Jemma's mum asked, trying to make conversation. Jemma thought back to the last phone call she had had with her mother, it was a month or so before the framework fiasco and her and Fitz were still blissfully in love, ignorant to the problems they were about to face, thinking they had seen all of their trials and tribulations. Joking about S.A.D.I.S.T. and W.I.M.P.

"Yah. We, we got married. It was a small thing, as we were underground," that much was true. "I'm so sorry daddy," she whispered. She didn't want to think about his crestfallen face at not getting to walk his daughter down the aisle, to give her away. Fitz squeezed her hand, and kissed the top of her head, a pained look in his eye probably thinking about how, when the time comes, far, far, far in the future, he wanted more than anything to be the one to give Alya away. 

"It's okay sweetheart, just, are you happy?" Her dad managed out.

"I'm really happy, my heart is so full, it could burst," Jemma replied, smiling at Fitz and the toys that were littered across the floor. 

"Jemma? Are you pregnant?" Her mother, ever the one to jump to conclusions asked.

"No!" Jemma and Fitz laughed, "No, I'm not pregnant," technically somewhere, deep in space, she was pregnant, but that was neither here nor there. 

"Oh," Jemma's mum replied, trying to mask the disappointment of not getting a grandchild quite yet. 

"We were thinking of visiting soon, if that's alright with you?" Fitz spoke up. 

"Oh honey, you and Jemma are always welcome." 

"We live up in Perthshire now," Jemma spoke up.

"Did you loose Roshambo?" Jemma's dad asked. Jemma was touched that he remembered the silly game her and Fitz used to play all the time. 

"No, I chose it. We've got this lovely cottage, and Al-, a lab, a really nice one," she quickly corrected. 

"We'll have to come up sometime, of course if that's alright with you," Jemma's mum said, lovingly, her voice breaking a little still. 

Jemma and Fitz glanced at each other, speaking with their eyes, he nodded, "Actually why don't you come on up instead of us going down? Does next week work, we have plenty of space!"

"Oh honey," her dad started.

"We would love to!" Her mum finished, Jemma and Fitz smiled at each other. 

"We do have a surprise for you," Fitz told them.

"Are you sure you aren't pregnant?" 

"Yes mum, I'm sure!" Jemma exclaimed. 

"Oh alright."

"We'll send you the address," Jemma said.

"Jemma, it's really good to hear your voice, I love you," Mrs. Simmons said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears again.

"I love you sweetie, I'm looking forward to seeing you soon, and Leo-"

Fitz looked confused at hearing his name but he sat up regardless, "Yes sir?"

"Take care of our girl, will you?" 

"Of course," Fitz promised.

"And welcome to the family!" Jemma's mum exclaimed, Fitz looked like he was about to tear up. 

A chorus of I love you's rang out as they hung up, and Jemma rested her head back on Fitz's chest. "That went well didn't?" Fitz asked.

"It was amazing," Jemma admitted.

"What do you think's gonna happen when they see Alya?" Fitz asked.

"I have no idea... Do you think we should've told them?"

"I think your mum already knows," Fitz pointed out her sixth sense.

~~~~~

"Some people are visiting tomorrow, monkey. Is that okay with you?" Alya was sitting on her daddy's knee on the couch with her mum beside them. "These people are mama's mummy and daddy, your grandma and grandpa." he said poking her stomach. 

Alya looked at her parents confused, "But I already have a grandpa and a grandma!" 

"You have four aunts and three uncles," Jemma pointed out. 

"Oh, you're right!" Alya exclaimed. 

"So are you alright if they spend the night here?" Jemma asked, she was ready to cancel the trip if Alya wasn't ready for visitors. 

"Sure!" Their happy girl exclaimed, getting off of Fitz's knee and yelling, "Let's go play!" while she shoved on her hat and her sunglasses.

Fitz and Jemma laughed. Fitz got up and put his hand down for Jemma to help her up, "It's gonna be all right," he murmured in her ear, knowing that she was worrying about everything that would happen. 

~~~~~

"I'M GONNA GET YOU MONKEY!" Fitz screamed at his daughter. The pair was running around outside, Alya in her hat and sunglasses and giggling and squealing like she was having the time of her life. The pair were giving Jemma a little alone time as she was so stressed about her parents coming in a few hours.

_Jemma was scrubbing the kitchen counter, trying to make things spotless for when her parents were visiting. Of course, that was difficult to do when you had a three year old and a husband who never stopped eating, and were sloppy eaters._

_"ALRIGHT! ENOUGH!" she had screamed at the two who were screaming at each other with chocolate on their face. Alya and Fitz both became silent, confused at Jemma's sudden outburst._

_Fitz understood what was happening and picked up Alya, "Come on monkey, mummy's just a little stressed right now, she needs some alone time, kay?"_

_"Kay!" Alya chirped._

_Fitz kissed Jemma's head, "Take a breath," he muttered into her ear. Jemma nodded and breathed in deeply so Fitz would leave her alone. Fitz grabbed Alya's hat and glasses and headed out the door._

Alya squealed and swerved around to the front of the house, trying to avoid the clutches of her daddy. But her little three year old legs just weren't fast enough, and Fitz quickly grabbed her and spun her around in the air. "I gotchyou!" he exclaimed. Alya just giggled. Fitz set down Alya and realized there were two people watching him, he hiked Alya up on his hip and went to go see who it was. 

Fitz stopped in his tracks, but quickly put on a smile and continued toward them, "Mr. and Mrs. Simmons!"

"Please call us Emma and Paul, after all you're family" a confused Emma replied, smiling. 

"Uh yes of course! Jem!!" he called for Jemma, trying not to panic. They had planned to put Alya in her room and break it to them slowly. This was certainly not apart of the plan. 

"Who's this little one? A niece?" Paul asked kindly, smiling down at Alya.

"Um no, I don't have any siblings. Um..." Fitz sputtered.

He was luckily saved by a flustered Jemma appearing at their doorway, "Mum, dad!" she exclaimed and ran down to them. Fitz stood back silently thankful that Alya for once had decided to stay quiet as they watched the parents reunite with their daughter.

After the tears were shed and the exclamations of love were said, Jemma extracted herself from the hug and wrapped herself around Fitz. Fitz placed a kiss on top of her head, and slipped a hand around her waist on instinct. "Are you my grandma and grandpa?" Alya demanded, deciding she couldn't keep quiet for one second later. The Fitz-Simmons family held their breath as they waited for Jemma's parents reaction. 

Emma looked at how comfortable the three were together. She then looked at the little girl, then to Fitz, then to Jemma, again and again. Those curls looked a lot like Fitz's, and those eyes were carbon copies. The little girl's nose and freckles were exactly like Jemma's and then when Fitz whispered something unheard into her ear, she broke into a smile, one that matched the smile she had seen on Jemma's face countless times before. Her hand flew up to her mouth, "Oh my!" she uttered in disbelief. 

"Alya meet your grandparents!" Jemma said, smiling brightly, a hint of nervousness hidden behind the smile. 

Paul was the first one to speak up, "It's a pleasure to meet you Alya Fitz," he said offering a hand for her to shake. 

Alya smiled and shook it wildly, but corrected him nonetheless, "Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons." 

"My bad!" he smiled. 

"How old are you?" Emma asked, sweetly. 

Alya held up 3 fingers, "3 and a half!" she said proudly.

Fitz cringed, putting a hand to his temple, Jemma just smiled nervously at her parents. "But, but you got together 2 and a half years ago!" Emma exclaimed at Fitz and Jemma. 

"It's complicated, we didn't have her before we started dating, but we did have her 3 and a half years ago," Jemma tried, and failed to explain. 

"So were you dating secretly?" Paul asked, trying to make sense of it. 

"No! I told you the night we started dating!" Jemma huffed, frustrated. 

"Don't be mad, mummy," Alya said, putting her small hand on Jemma's cheek, Jemma instantly smiled. 

"I'm not mad sweetie." Jemma took a breath. "We live in a world with Norse gods, superheroes, and aliens, can we all accept what I said as the truth and move on?" Jemma said, unlike Fitz she had deliberately chosen to not tell her parents what really happened, she didn't think that they could take it and she was okay with that.

When Alya had spoken to her mum, telling her not to be mad, the two grandparents' hearts instantly melted, and they were willing to accept anything the couple said, they didn't care. 

The next couple of days where Jemma's parents were home were filled with catching up, playing with their granddaughter, crying, and happiness. Jemma's parents were on the floor having a tea party with Alya when Fitz came up behind Jemma, and mumbled into her ear, "You okay?"

"I'm okay, it's perfect, this family is perfect. You were right,"

"I almost always am." 

Jemma rolled her eyes, "Fit-" Before she could finish explaining to him how he was definitely _not_ almost always right, he swept her off her feet and kissed her passionately, a happy kiss, they had had their closure, they could move on with their life. Those traumas would never truly leave them, but they were there together to help the other through it, to remind them that that's not their life anymore, not their job. The three of them were together, living their happily ever after, with their happy little family. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I won't be posting every day anymore but I just couldn't handle it anymore! Thank you all for still supporting me even through the past couple days of craziness. Please, please give me more suggestions because with what I have planned it's looking like 4 or so more chapters... that could change depending on if I get a sudden idea at 3 am, or if you give me suggestions! I have a few requests I'm fulfilling at the moment so it probably won't happen immediately but I will probably get to it, I really appreciate it!  
> Once again, I thank you for getting this far, feel free to leave comments with feedback or suggestions or kudos!!  
> Have a lovely day!


	18. A Birth in the Stars and A Birthday in Perthshire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Alya's birthday!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I specifically did not specify when her birthday is because that would mean I would have to place all the other events in a season and do math and I'm just not in the mood to do math at the moment... words are my thing, not numbers.... Anyways aside from that side note: ENJOY MY LONGEST CHAPTER EVER!

"Fitz!" Fitz heard Jemma scream his name and he immediately dropped whatever he was doing, and ran to the living room, hoping that nothing wrong had happened. There was Jemma, struggling to hang a 'Happy Birthday Alya!' sign. 

Fitz let out a sigh of relief "Don't you ever scare me like that again," he scolded. 

"What?" she asked innocently. 

"You sounded like you were-," he stopped himself and asked, "Do you need help?" 

Jemma winced, realizing that the strain of her arms reaching up for so long and her frustrated voice may have sounded like she was in trouble to him, "Oh. Yes, I would love help." Fitz and Jemma hung up the sign and then stepped back to admire their work. "Do you think it's crooked? Or maybe it needs to be up higher?"

"Jemma," Fitz turned his wife to force her to look at him. "Take a breath." He waited to continue on until she had exhaled and inhaled a few times in rhythm with him, "Alya will love whatever happens tomorrow, almost everyone she knows is going to be there, and they're all going to spoil her rotten, so let's go to bed soon, and stop worrying about every perfect little detail?"

Jemma reluctantly nodded, "A few more balloons?"

Fitz chuckled, "Only a couple, but you're doing most of the blowing up, my lungs can't take it anymore." 

~~~~~

An hour later Fitz finally managed to drag Jemma to bed, "Why am I the one forcing you to sleep?" Fitz asked, confused at their reversed roles.

Jemma was changing and called over her shoulder, "I don't know." Fitz gave Jemma a look as she climbed into bed on top of him, "Fine. Her birthday's were just never quite special in the stars, she didn't really _know_. And now, we have access to whatever we want to make this day as perfect as we possibly can, she has all of her grandparents and aunt and uncles able to celebrate with her."

"And that's exactly why it will be perfect, she'll have all of these people who love her surrounding her with love, she won't care if the banner's a little crooked or if there wasn't an even number of balloons, she'll love it because we're here and we love her."

"Your right Fitz." Jemma sighed and snuggled in closer to him. "Can you believe she's four?"

"The best four years of my life," Fitz admitted. 

"Pretty soon we'll need to enroll her in preschools! I haven't even researched any yet! And how are we going to handle her skipping grades, if she wants to of course, and-"

"Jemma, let's worry about that in a couple days. Tomorrow, or should I say today? Let's just focus all on Alya." Fitz said, trying to make her go to sleep.

There were only a few moments of silence before Jemma spoke up again, "Do you realize that I'm going to give birth in the stars in a couple hours, and I don't even know it yet?" Jemma told Fitz.

Fitz mumbled on the verge of sleep, "Time travels weird." 

"But fascinating." 

"Mhh," Fitz pulled her onto his chest, "Go to sleep Jems."

Jemma settled down in the crook of his arm, "Love you."

"Lve mmh," Fitz mumbled incoherently, but Jemma just smiled as she joined him off in sleep, excited for the next days festivities. 

~~~~~

"Fitz wake up!" Jemma shoved Fitz awake.

"Nuh uh," Fitz grumbled, rolling off to the side. 

"You know that Alya will run in here as soon as she wakes up, and I want to wake her up." Jemma explained. 

"Then go wake her up," Fitz mumbled, his Scottish accent thick with a couple months spent in Perthshire paired with having just been woken up.

"Fitz." 

"Coming." Fitz woke himself up and let Jemma drag him out of bed. 

The two made it to her bedroom, "Wait here, I have to go get the pancakes."

"You already made pancakes?! How long have you been awake?" He hissed after her, to not wake Alya up. 

When Jemma walked back to him with a plate of steaming hot pancakes, birthday candles in hand, "I was able to fall asleep for 3 hours, I believe?" 

Fitz rolled his eyes, "Everything's going to be perfect," he kissed her head, sleepily, still not fully woken up. Jemma balanced the plate on one hand as she tried to place birthday candles in the pancakes, "Here let me." Fitz said as he placed the candles in the pancakes and lit them, "Is she going to have candles with every meal today?"

"Absolutely!" Jemma responded, determined to give her little girl the best day.

"Does she need candles with every meal?"

"Absolutely!" 

"I'm not sure you got the point of where I was going with that," Fitz pointed out exasperated. 

"I did, I just chose to ignore it," she gave him a quick kiss. "Now warm your voice up." Jemma pushed open Alya's bedroom door and started singing, "Happy birthday..." Fitz joined in and the two sang the classic song to an excited 4 year old. Fitz and Jemma had now made their way over to her bed, both sitting on the edge with Alya in Fitz's lap, Jemma holding out the candles. "Now you're going to blow out the candles, but first you have to make a wish," Alya opened her mouth, but Jemma stopped her, "You can't tell us what the wish is, or it won't come true," Jemma warned.

Alya immediately closed her mouth, thought for a moment, and then said, "I'm ready," with the most seriousness in her voice. Alya blew out her candles and the parents cheered. 

"Was it a good wish, monkey?" Fitz bounced her on his knee. 

Alya nodded, "The best," she grinned. 

"Do you want to tell me? I'm sure it doesn't matter..." Fitz trailed off when he saw the glare that was given to him by both his daughter and his wife, "Right."

"Alright Alya, we don't have any plans until the afternoon, what do you want to do?" Jemma asked, ever the planner. 

"Pancakes!"

"In bed?" Fitz added on hopefully. 

"I don't know, there's some fun surprises downstairs that you might want to see sooner rather than later!" Jemma said, smiling slyly.

"Pancakes downstairs!" Alya decided as she jumped down from Fitz's lap and ran out to go downstairs. 

"Young lady get back here and get dressed!" Jemma called. 

"I was this close to eating breakfast in bed with my girls, and you had to go and ruin it!" he told Jemma. 

She just shrugged as Alya came in and said, "Daddy's not dressed. Plus, it's my birthday!" 

Jemma pretended to think it through, "You can stay in your pajamas for the rest of the morning, but only if the birthday girl comes here and gives me a big hug!" 

Alya ran to her mum and gave her a big hug, "Love you mama."

"I love you too, sweet girl." Fitz picked up Alya to carry her downstairs when Jemma spoke again, "What do you think you're doing?" Fitz just looked at her confused. "Only the birthday girl can go downstairs without getting dressed yet," Jemma smirked. 

"Can I get out of it if I give Mrs. Fitz-Simmons a kiss?" 

"I suppose that'll have to do." Fitz grinned and walked over to her, kissing her passionately.

"Ewww," Alya squealed. Fitz in turn kissed her forehead, Jemma and Fitz giggled at their daughter's dislike of their public shows of affection. 

~~~~~

Alya had finished her pancakes and the parents gave a side eye to each other. Jemma went and grabbed the present they had decided to give her now, they'd give her the rest and the one's from family later. "Alya," Jemma called. "We have something for you!" 

Alya squealed as she grabbed the beautifully wrapped present from Jemma's hands and tore it open viciously. She gasped when she got it open, "Oh mummy!"

It was a mini S.H.I.E.L.D. lab coat, just Alya's size along with child safety goggles. Lately she had been adamant that she wanted to be a scientist like mummy and daddy. She would cry if one of them went into the lab without her, or if she wasn't allowed to help. 

"Now you can be protected when you help mummy and I!" Fitz exclaimed, helping her get the jacket on. 

"I love it! I'm going to be the best scientist!" Her little arms wrapped both of her parents in a hug, "Thank you!" 

"That you are, monkey, that you are."

~~~~~

Alya was now deciding what she wanted to do the rest of the day. After listening to all of the options her mum had listed she said, "Can we play outside?" 

"Of course sweetheart. Let's go put your play clothes on first." Jemma decided, taking her upstairs. 

After the Fitz-Simmons family were dressed and ready Jemma was making sure they were all lathered up in sunscreen, Alya had taken after Fitz in way of complexion which meant that they both were very pasty, and susceptible to getting sun burned. "Right, okay, I think we're all ready, what am I forgetting?"

"Jem." Fitz said, holding out Alya's trademark sunglasses and hat.

"Oh right, how could I have forgotten!" She said taking the objects from Fitz.

"Probably because you got three hours of sleep," Fitz smirked. 

"How many hours of sleep do I get?" Alya asked. 

"12," Fitz told her. 

Alya looked up at her mum with wide eyes, "How are you standing?" 

"If we're going to talk about sleep habits we should talk about your father! This was just one night!" Jemma defended. "Here you go sweet girl," Jemma said, bending down and giving Alya her sunglasses and fraying hat. 

Alya studied the two objects in her hands with her big blue eyes and then shoved it back into Jemma's arms, "I don't want those anymore." Jemma and Fitz exchanged a worried look and Fitz joined Jemma squatting in front of their daughter.

"Are you sure, monkey?"

"I'm four years old, I shouldn't need that anymore! You told me I'm brave, I need to show it!" Alya insisted. 

"Oh sweetie, come here," Jemma said pulling Alya into her arms, "You know that you are so brave, but even brave people are scared of something, what matters is that they do it, even if they need a little help. You can still use your hat and sunglasses, even big four year olds still need help." 

"I don't need them anymore." Alya insisted, the stubbornness trait of the Fitz-Simmons family shining through. 

"Okay monkey, but if you change your mind, mummy will be holding them, is that okay?" 

Alya nodded, "I won't need them." 

Jemma laughed and the three walked outside, Alya in the middle of them, holding both of her parents' hands. Fitz and Jemma probably more nervous about the situation than Alya was. 

Alya took a breath, and the squealed, "You can't catch me!" as she set off running. Fitz and Jemma exchanged a look, grinning, Fitz took after Alya. Jemma carefully placed the hat and sunglasses down on the porch and ran after her family. Fitz had gotten to Alya and had scooped her up in his arms, both laughing madly. Jemma jumped up on Fitz's back, making him grunt in surprise, and making her and Alya laugh more. Fitz fell down, and Alya went down with him, he made sure she landed on him of course, and Alya still was smiling brilliantly, laughing at her mum making her dad fall down. Jemma kneeled down next to where Fitz and Alya were and started tickling Alya with all of her might, Fitz joining in on the task. 

~~~~~

It was an hour or so before lunch time, two or so hours before everyone arrived and the Fitz-Simmons family were still playing out in their garden. Currently, Alya was looking at bugs and leaves, claiming that "She wanted to be a scientist like mummy and daddy."

Fitz and Jemma had just laughed, and were touched that Alya wanted to be like them. Now, Fitz had his arms wrapped around Jemma's waist and had his head on her shoulder, Jemma was leaning onto his chest. "She's growing up so fast, our brave girl," Jemma said, referring to Alya deciding that she didn't need her coping mechanism anymore. 

"I know," Fitz kissed her cheek, "I'm glad that she's recovered so quickly, grown to like this place."

"You know, what I said last night, we really do need to get serious about it." 

"You'll have to remind me, I might have been asleep at that point."

"No, you talked back to me," Jemma pointed out.

"Well, I was too tired to remember now, so you'll still have to remind me."

"We need to sign up Alya for preschool soon, or a class or something, I don't think she's ever been with anyone her age." Jemma said, embarrassed. 

"Let's worry about that later, I think my mum came early though," he said pointing to the car that was coming towards them but was still farther in the distance. 

"That's not your mum's car," Jemma pointed out, and clutched on to his shirt. 

"Shhh, Jemma" Fitz rubbed her shoulders, "It's probably nothing, it's probably someone else, okay? But I'll go check it out, you stay here with Alya kay?"

"Okay." 

Fitz emerged from behind the house so that the oncoming car could see him. He waved awkwardly, unsure what he was supposed to do. Fitz took deep breaths, and smiled as the car pulled up and a figure emerged from the front seat. "Hunter?" He said in disbelief, his jaw probably on the floor. 

"Fitzy!" the Brit exclaimed rushing forward to enfold him in a hug. When they broke apart Hunter surveyed the cottage, "So finally switched to consulting? Why? Jemma pregnant?" Hunter asked, still grinning widely.

"No, not consulting, retired," Fitz corrected. 

"Wow, completely cut ties, nice, that takes guts."

"As for why, Jemma's not pregnant, but there is something else, come on, I'll just show you." Fitz led him over to the entrance to the garden, "You and Bobbi?" 

"On another one of our brief breaks. I'll see her again soon I'm sure." Hunter reassured Fitz, although Fitz had a suspicion he was more reassuring himself. 

Fitz swung open the gate and at the sound of the creaky gate they heard Jemma call, worry trying not to show itself in her voice, "Fitz?"

"It's okay Jem! You'll never guess which guest arrived first!" He said, shoving Hunter into view. 

"Hunter!" Jemma screamed, in disbelief or in complete shock, Fitz couldn't be sure. She shook herself out of the daze and wrapped him in a hug, "It's been far too long, you do know you can come over any time, we have a guest room... That lot's of people like to stay in, now that I'm thinking of it, but as long no one else is in there, you're always welcome to it!"

"You guys have really taken to old married life haven't you?" Hunter joked. 

"You have no idea." Fitz shook his head, flashing their rings to Hunter. 

"Fitz told me he was going to propose when I broke him out of prison, but I didn't believe him! Way to go!" 

"Mummy! Daddy look!" A small voice came from a little farther away, there was a little girl with white-blonde hair, staring at something she'd found in the dirt. 

Hunter registered her and made the connection, "You, you have a daughter?" He managed out.

"Alya come here!" Jemma called. Alya dropped what she was doing and ran over into Fitz's arms. 

"Who's this?" Alya whispered, loud enough for Hunter to hear. Jemma smiled apologetically, they really needed to work on her whispering skills. 

"This is Uncle Hunter," Jemma prompted. 

Alya's blue eyes got wide, "Uncle Hunter!" 

"You, you told her about me?" he sputtered out. 

"Of course we did," Jemma replied, "Why is everyone surprised about that?" 

Fitz shrugged and Hunter turned his attention to Alya, "Hello, how old are you Alya?"

"It's my birthday! I'm four years old!" Alya said proudly. 

"Four?"

"Time travel," Fitz explained plainly. 

"Huh, that's new. Happy birthday!"

Fitz cleared his throat, "A lot of the team is coming down soon, you're just in time."

"Everyone? Is coming, here? Today?"

Jemma and Fitz laughed at Hunter, "Well not everyone, May, Coulson, and Daisy will definitely be here, everyone else is kind of busy at the moment, so we'll see if they can make it," Jemma explained. 

~~~~~

The next couple hours was filled with catching up for the adults and Hunter and Alya getting to know each other. Alya had said something snarky to Hunter, "Now you listen here you little shi-" he stopped when he saw Jemma's warning look, "little Miss Fitz," he quickly corrected. 

"It's little Miss Fitz-Simmons!" She screamed, crossing her arms. Just then the doorbell rang and she exclaimed, "Friends!" and ran off. Jemma got to the door before her and opened it- it was Fitz's mum. 

"Nana!" Alya flung herself into the woman's arms. 

"How's my favorite 6 year old?"

"Nanaaaaa! I'm four!" 

"Are you?!" Linda feigned a shocked look. "Well you look so much older!" 

"Linda!" Jemma and Linda hugged. 

Linda heard the faint sound of a football match playing on the TV, "Are you letting my son watch football on his daughter's birthday?!" 

Jemma laughed, "Well it's complicated." Jemma led Linda over to where Fitz and Hunter were, "Meet Hunter, he's been away for a long, long time. It's good to see him again, they're just catching up until everyone else gets here."

Linda smiled at Fitz arguing with Hunter over some random football thing, he had always had an issue with making friends as a kid, and now to see him surrounded with so much love and friendship, it really made her heart happy. 

Soon enough the doorbell rang and it was Jemma's parents, who would be staying at the Fitz-Simmons residence for the next few days. "Grandma and Grandpa!" Alya yelled, excited to be getting so much attention already. 

The next people to come through were Couslon, May, Daisy, Sousa, and Kora. Alya made the rounds, hugging each and every one, them telling her 'Happy Birthday, kid!'. Every person carried at least two presents and Fitz's eyes popped out of his head. Jemma looked over at him and laughed, "They're making up for four years," she reminded him, giving him a quick kiss. "When I see them next I'm telling them that only one a year is fine." Jemma rolled her eyes and tuned back into the conversation. 

~~~~~

Alya was playing with her grandparents while the former agents and current agents were all talking shop. 

"Coulson Academy opens next week!" May piped up. "I'd love some guest lecturers, for opening week?" May hinted towards Fitzsimmons. 

Fitz sighed, luckily Jemma and him had this conversation a couple days ago to prepare when they asked. "Talk to us next school year," he said firmly. 

May nodded, understanding, but she smirked and said, "You'll be expecting my call." 

"We're heading to space in a couple weeks too," Daisy said, "That's why _The Director_ ," she rolled her eyes, "So graciously gave us a day off, Yoyo, Piper, and Davis wished they could be here but-" 

"We understand, lucky you guys for getting a day off though!" Jemma said brightly, she remembered back to when her and Fitz had to fight viciously just to get one day off. 

"Yah well when you're leaving the planet for who knows how long for a mission, he gets all soft like a teddy bear again, but I'm sure it won't last."

Alya had the time of her life playing with all of her family members, opening her many presents, and being the belle of the ball. She strutted and showed off her gift from her parents. 

"A S.H.I.E.L.D. lab coat?" Coulson asked, raising his eyebrow. 

"That means nothing." Fitz replied quickly. 

Soon everyone had to go, having a long journey ahead of them, the tears were plentiful but everyone was glad to have seen each other again, even if they were missing a few key people from their little family. 

~~~~~

"Jetlag and a hangover, not a good combination." Hunter groaned, once everyone left. 

Fitz laughed at his friend and steered him over to the free guest bedroom, Jemma's parents were quite overwhelmed with meeting everyone that they had already headed to bed. "Have a good night's sleep!" 

"I doubt I will." Fitz just closed the door, it was good to see him. He had missed him. He found Alya and Jemma having hot chocolate on the couch, he sat down in between the two and took a sip of Jemma's. "What's the plan monkey?"

"Can we watch a movie?" 

Fitz checked his watch, and nodded to Jemma, saying that there was still a little time before her bedtime. "What do you want to watch, sweet girl?" Jemma asked. 

"Big Hero 6!" It was her favorite, scientists fighting to save the world, she was going through a bit of a phase at the moment. 

"Sounds good to me," Fitz said, ruffling her hair before going to put the movie on. 

~~~~~

Fitz was watching the movie when he heard a snore to his side, Jemma had fallen fast asleep against him, "Serves you right for worrying too much," he smirked. Fitz looked over to his other side to show Alya that her mum had fallen asleep, but the white haired 4 year old had fallen asleep on his other side, Fitz smiled softly, so grateful for the life he had now. Fitz let the movie end, not wanting to disturb them, and enjoying the feeling of his girls pressed up against him, snuggled into his body heat. The credits ended and Fitz was now engulfed in darkness, he softly sighed, he should probably put Alya to bed. He carefully transitioned Alya to rest on his chest, Fitz checked to make sure she was still fast asleep. She was a heavy sleeper, much like him he mused. He carefully got up, transitioning Jemma to rest on a pillow. _'I'll carry her up next,'_ he thought to himself, guilty for moving her, but surprisingly Jemma stayed fast asleep, probably because she stayed up so long. He carried Alya up stairs and put her on her bed, he tucked her in, and he whispered, "Did ya have a good birthday?" 

"Mhh," she mumbled. 

Fitz hadn't realized she was up, he just chuckled, and pushed her hair out of her face, "Have some good dreams for me? Okay monkey?" 

"Alright daddy." 

Fitz kissed her forehead and whispered, "G'night monkey." He left the room and headed back down to the living room, fully intent on carrying Jemma up to their room, but once he got there she was so peaceful, he checked his watch, 8:30. He'd move her in an hour if she was still asleep, he decided. Fitz grabbed his tablet and started working while keeping an eye on the clock and absent mindedly running his fingers through Jemma's hair. 

Around 9:20 Jemma woke up, she sat up and looked at her surroundings, "What happened?" 

Fitz chuckled at the site of his frazzled wife, "You and Alya fell asleep around 3/4ths of the way through the movie, when it ended I took Alya up, and I was going to take you up, but you looked so peaceful, so I gave you an hour before I moved you." 

Jemma leaned her head on Fitz, "It's been a long day."

"A long, perfect day," Fitz kissed the top of her head, "And you didn't even need to worry as much as you did." 

"I know." Jemma and Fitz sat in silence for a little while longer, "What are you up to?" 

Fitz cleared his throat, "Well I first created a birth certificate for Alya, I realized she didn't have one." Fitz swiped so that it showed the certificate he had forged, "Our daughter Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons was born in 2016."

"The year we started dating," Jemma remarked. 

"Well, yah."

"We were not ready for a kid in 2016."

"Not in the slightest." Fitz and Jemma kissed. 

"And the second thing you did?" Jemma broke away.

Fitz switched tabs, "Looking at preschool's nearby, this one looked promising." Jemma silently read through the reviews and what it was supposed to look like. 

"I love it."

"Really Jemma? Cause we can keep looking, and in more depth-" He was cut off by Jemma's lips on his. 

"I trust you, let's make an appointment." Jemma said. 

"But I thought you'd worry about this and want to be very hands on, I mean look at how you took today!" Fitz said, exasperated. 

"But you're right, I shouldn't worry as much. I have the perfect life, with my favorite people in the world." Jemma pointed out. 

"There's an appointment available tomorrow," Fitz responded, pulling up the schedule. 

Jemma sucked in a sharp breath, "Wow. That's soon." 

"Yah, Jemma, we can do it another time, if you want."

"No."

"No? Okay, I'll sign us up." Fitz went through the application process and signed them up. Once he was finished he spoke up again, "I was thinking of something else Jems."

"Yah?" 

Fitz sat up and turned to Jemma, taking her hands in his, and looking into her eyes. "With the team here, I started thinking, and,"

"You want to go back into the field?" Jemma blurted out, "Or just consult? Or the academy?" 

Fitz looked amused at her, "No, no, no, I don't plan on doing that any time soon, you on the other hand, I see you doing one of those things very soon."

Jemma grinned sheepishly, "I miss science, Fitz," she sighed, wistfully. 

"Yah me too."

"Fitz?"

"Mmmh?" he said, rubbing her ring, distracted.

"I was thinking, we can't just live off of S.H.I.E.L.D. forever, we do have to start making an income somehow."

Fitz sighed heavily, "I know,"

Jemma took a breath and responded, "There's a university nearby, with a decent biochem program, I was thinking of maybe applying to be a professor, seeing how that went."

"You mean you don't want to be a stay at home mum? I'm not trying to put gender stereotypes on us, I just thought with leaving Alya..." he trailed off, all the unspoken words clear. 

"I love this life with you, but like I said, I miss science. I think you would make a great stay at home dad, maybe even professor once Alya goes off to school if you want to. But I want to try out something new, especially if there's a new little one coming, we're going to need a clear financial income." Jemma said breathlessly. 

"Jemma? Are you..?" Fitz asked urgently, searching her face. 

"What? Oh! No! No!" Jemma reassured, "Just if we wanted another kid anytime soon," she said shyly, they hadn't talked about the possibility of a future beyond the dream of _Picnics in Perthshire,_ and she didn't know how he'd react with the prospect of another child. 

"Alya is at a pretty great age for a sibling. And neither of us had siblings, yet we both wanted them," Fitz reasoned out. 

"So are we saying that we want to start trying?" Jemma asked. 

Fitz grinned, "Yes, let's make our little family a little bigger." He paused for a beat, "We can start now... if you want," Fitz said biting at her ear. 

"Too tired," Jemma admitted, falling asleep on his shoulder. 

"Come on let's get you to bed, the sooner you get to sleep the better," Fitz smirked. So, the couple went to sleep easily and comfortably wrapped in each other's arms, they had plans for the future, and had had a pretty great day with their present life. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT ANOUNCMENT:  
> Please tell me if you want second Fitz-Simmons child to be a boy or a girl! I'm split evenly, cause I love Fitz and His Girls™ but also am so open to a little boy! So vote! https://forms.gle/XksNvwVuhGz9xUqZ9  
> ...  
> See, I was all on track to post this on time, but then I just kept writing, and writing, and writing. Until this became the monster of a chapter and then it was midnight and I knew that if I kept going while sleep deprived just so I could post it, I would end up hating it and wishing I could take it all back so... here we are!  
> I should just stop telling people when I'll be posting, because then I don't listen to it. I SHALL BE POSTING AS OFTEN AS I CAN!  
> There that is when I shall be posting! Sorry if this is passive aggressive to anyone, I am writing the notes at midnight and procrastinating finishing the story and editing.  
> I brought our favorite comedic duo back (or at least mine, I can't speak for everyone): Hunter and Fitz!!! I was going to bring back Bobbi as well, I love her too, but then I realized I have NO idea how to write her so... I cut her out... whoops?  
> Also the Fitz-Simmons powwow at the end was supposed to be brief but then they made like three big life decisions so then it was not brief, at all. (They aren't in space anymore, I have to make things exciting somehow without angst sue me! lol)  
> (Can you tell I really wanted Alya and Jemma to fall asleep on Fitz, and for them to have that moment so I made everyone else leave or go to bed?) (Can you also tell I don't know the first thing about sports?? lolll)  
> As always feel free to leave comment/kudos/suggestions/feedback, I love all of it and all of you!  
> Have a lovely day!


	19. The Terrors of the Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitz-Simmons family have a lot to celebrate!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @agentmaria4722 for suggesting the vacation part of this fic!

"Jemma calm down." 

Jemma had been pacing furiously all day, continuously swiping up on her email. She looked up absentmindedly from her third refresh in one minute, "Huh?" Fitz gestured to the phone in her hands and her walking around the room, "Oh." 

"Give me your phone," Fitz said putting one hand on his hips, and another reached out for the phone to be placed in his hand. 

"But they said they'd email from 9-3 it's 3:20!" Jemma exclaimed. 

"I have no doubt in my mind you will get the position, you have how many PhDs?"

"Two, but-" 

"And who was the youngest person to ever be accepted to attend one of the most hard to get into and top secret schools?" 

"Me," Jemma sighed, as she handed over the phone. 

"You'll get this back in an hour." Fitz said waving the phone over his shoulder as he walked away from her. 

"An hour?!" Jemma exclaimed. 

"The email won't have left just because you were away from your phone!" he screamed as he left to go hide the phone.

Jemma rolled her eyes and turned towards Alya, "Your daddy's being very mean." 

"Daddy's never mean." Alya said. 

"Am I ever mean?" 

Alya eyes darted to the left, "No." Alya had inherited Jemma's ability to lie from before all the S.H.I.E.L.D nonsense, that is she had none. 

Jemma stifled a laugh, the parents knew who was the quote on quote "easy parent" versus the "hard parent", but it was okay, they had settled into their roles easily and both could easily switch roles when need be. Jemma decided to let the little white lie go, and she asked, "What were you and daddy playing while I was busy?" 

"Scientists!" 

"Ooh, that sounds fun! Can I play?" 

"Sure mummy! You'll need a lab coat!" They were already in their lab in the shed, it was the easiest place to play scientists, and they weren't often testing dangerous chemicals so it was fine to have her in there, with parental supervision. So, Jemma grabbed her lab coat and joined Alya who was wearing the one she had gotten for her birthday. 

"What type of scientists are you?" 

"I'm bio-" _Take that Fitz,_ Jemma thought. "-tech!" Alya finished proudly. Although it wasn't biochem, it was a perfect blend of her and Fitz's talents, and she felt her heart melt.

"Are you now?" She knew that this wasn't a confirmation of what she'd really be passionate about when she grew up, but it was still a nice sentiment.

"What are you Dr. Jemma Fitz-Simmons?" Jemma always laughed when she did that. 

"I'm a bio-chemist." 

"Hmmm, my old lab partner had to leave. I need a new one." Alya pretended to look around at the many, many candidates for her new lab partner. "You!" she said, pointing to Jemma. "You will be my lab partner!" 

"Yes mam!"

The two pretended to play scientists, doing fun experiments, child safe and adult supervised by Jemma of course. Fitz walked back in a half hour later, having just received the email that was causing Jemma so much anxiety. He smiled when he saw the two girls in their matching lab coats, Jemma taking orders from their daughter, and gently explaining the science behind the experiment. Fitz leaned against the door way, so much love on his face for his family, cherishing the moments and enjoying watching them interact. Jemma turned around and saw him, "Hello Dr. Fitz-Simmons, would you like to join us?" 

Fitz grinned and grabbed his lab coat, "I would love to Dr. Fitz-Simmons." 

Alya and Jemma were both pouring different substances into a beaker to see what would happen, Fitz came around behind Jemma and just as she started pouring, whispered, "I got an email from the university." 

Jemma immediately spilled the liquid on the tray, she put the tube down and lightly slapped his chest, "Don't do that!" 

Fitz just chuckled and winked at Alya, who wasn't sure wether to cry at not getting to see the experiment or to laugh, luckily her dad's wink made her choose the former. "Do you want to read it or me?"

"I'll read it," she decided. Fitz grabbed Alya from the stool she was standing on and put his other arm around Jemma, squeezing her shoulder as she clicked the newest email in her inbox. "Okay..." it loaded, she cleared her throat, 

_Dear Dr. Jemma Fitz-Simmons,_

_We have to say that your application and resume was quite impressive. W_ _e were honestly quite_ _surprised to have someone with your expertise and qualifications apply for this teaching position at our humble university. We had been having quite a lot of trouble finding a suitable teacher to accept the position, we thought we were going to have to drop the program, but when we got your application, and furthermore your excellent interview, we knew our prayers had been answered. So, this email is to offer you the position that you applied for, term starts in four weeks, I understand that is soon, but as I said, we had issues finding a suitable teacher, we await your email by Monday. If you accept, further details will be sent to you._

_Sincerely,_

_The faculty._

"I knew you'd get it!" Fitz exclaimed while reading the email over her shoulder. 

"Yay!" Alya cheered. 

Jemma looked back at her daughter and took her from Fitz's arms. "Do you know what this means, honey?" 

"No," Alya stated plainly, "But you and daddy seem happy!"

"I just was offered a job, sweetie. If I say yes, that means that I wouldn't be home all of the time? Is that okay?" They had decided to not tell Alya until they were sure that it was a possibility. 

"But aren't I going to preschool soon?" Alya pointed out. The couple had already taken her to an interview and she had loved it, they decided not to start her until Jemma got a job, and only for half days to ease her in. Or maybe it was to ease the overprotective parents in. 

"Well, yes, but you'll only be going for half a day, and then you'll spend the rest of the day with daddy, and then all be home a little before supper. But I'll be free all weekend!" Jemma added on brightly. 

"Okay!" 

"Are you okay with this Alya?" Jemma asked nervously, smoothing back Alya's hair. 

"Uh huh!" Alya nodded, happy to do anything that would make her mum happy. 

"You say that now, but just wait till you get sick and tired of your old man," Fitz joked, Jemma rolled her eyes. 

"I'll never get tired of you daddy!" Alya reassured him. 

"Uh huh, do I have cameras in here? Cause I want to show that to you on your 13th birthday," Fitz said, then quickly shook his head, not wanting to think about his little girl being a teenager. 

Alya tugged on her dad's sweater, "Will you play scientists with us?" for extra measure, Alya's bottom lip quivered. 

Fitz and Jemma laughed, "Sure monkey." He threw on his lab coat. "Where am I needed?"

"Dr. Leo Fitz-Simmons, what kind of scientist are you?" 

"I'm an engineer," Fitz said, a smirk tugging at his lips. 

"We don't have enough people for two sets of partners, you'll have to join us." 

Fitz nodded and the three turned to clean up the experiment that Jemma had ruined, Fitz put his arms around Jemma's waist, and whispered into her ear, "For now." Ever since the couple had decided that they wanted another kid Jemma set to work to plan when it would be best to try for a kid, last night was their last day to try of her ovulation period, Jemma bit her lip to stop herself from giggling.

"What?" Alya demanded, being an only child had made her want to know everything and anything.

"Nothing. Careful your arm is getting in the toxic substance!" Fitz pointed to her little arm that had fallen in the definitely not toxic substance. 

Alya screamed an ear piercing scream that made Fitz and Jemma wince, "GET IT OFF!"

Jemma and Fitz quickly rushed to get cloths and wiped it off. But Alya was smart, she knew it wasn't a toxic substance, and wanted more attention on her, so she kept screaming their ears off. "You sure you want another one of these?" Fitz shot at Jemma. 

Jemma shot him back a glare in return and put on her firm mum tone, "Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons, if you don't stop yelling right now, you won't get anything for dessert tonight." 

Alya stuck out her tongue and screamed, "YOU WOULDN'T!"

"Yes I would Alya." Jemma crossed her arms. 

"DADDY WOULD STILL SNEAK ME DESSERT!" Fitz winced as she kept screaming. 

"Traitor," he whispered. 

"THAT'S IT!" Jemma yelled sharply over Alya's screaming that quickly died down, "No dessert, and no daddy daughter midnight desserts," she said, glaring at Fitz. 

Alya started crying to try and change Jemma's mind, but Jemma was just as stubborn as the rest of them. 

After the couple put Alya down for her much needed nap and got her to calm down Jemma was crossing her arms in the kitchen, "You really need to stop giving her punishments and then not following through! Alya's a smart girl, clearly she's already figured out that you won't really punish her, and if you are going to be looking after her for half days all week, every week, then you're going to need to learn to get serious." 

Fitz sighed, "I know, it's just..." Fitz sighed, "When I would act up as a kid, it would mean my dad would put me down or hit me, and I hated my dad, I don't want," his voice cracked, "I don't want Alya to hate me," he finished weakly. 

Jemma softened up and put her arms around Fitz's neck, "Alya adores you. I punish her, and she doesn't hate me, and you would never harm our daughter, you love her too much." She put her forehead against his. 

"I know."

"But you will have to start punishing her."

"But then she won't love me more than you," Fitz joked half heartedly, a soft tone in his voice, that Jemma knew meant he would try, he would be better. She closed the distance between their faces and their lips softly touched for a moment. "You're going to be a professor Jemma."

"I know," she said in disbelief. 

"Your going to have to start planning lessons, and grading papers," Fitz smirked. 

"Oh damn."

"Forgot about that did ya?" Fitz smirked. 

Jemma kissed his stupid smirk, "You know you're going to be helping me with the grading don't you?" Jemma said, wiping his smirk off.

"Especially since you're carrying another little one," Fitz whispered against her mouth. 

Jemma pushed Fitz away a little bit, "We won't know if that's true for at least 2 weeks, I don't need to give you another biology lesson do I?" 

"I would quite like one."

"Oh hush." Jemma said, shutting him up with a kiss as she so often likes to do. 

~~~~~

Jemma felt a tear fall down her cheeks. Her fingers fluttered up to catch them up, not realizing that she had begun crying. Her hands were shaking. She tried to cry silently, she didn't even know why she was crying. 

She heard a knock on her and Fitz's bathroom. Their knock, one that they had made long ago at the academy to let the other know who it was before they came in, she smiled in spite of herself at the memory. "Jemma? You alright?" concern laced in Fitz's thick Scottish accent. 

Jemma tried to put on a cheerful voice, "Yep! Just a second!" she called out. Jemma quickly wiped away the tears and with her shaky hands shoved the white sticks she was holding in the back of the cupboards. She looked at herself in the mirror, and wiped off the last remnants of the tears on her face. 

"Sorry, I just was straightening up in there, it's all yours now," Jemma said offhandedly, purposely not looking at him, she knew he would see through her in a second. Jemma was never good at lying, but she never could lie successfully to Fitz, she had succeeded for all of 30 seconds when she had faked her death in front of him, but she knew she had no chance if he saw her. 

"You're sure you're alright?" Fitz said, not believing her. 

"Yep!" her voice broke. 

"Jemma." Fitz turned her around and made her look at him, her bloodshot eyes and still tear stained face evident that she was not in fact alright. "Hey, it's okay, what's wrong?" he asked, pulling her into his arms. Jemma couldn't stop herself, she broke down right there, resting on Fitz's chest, clutching Fitz's sleep shirt. Fitz rubbed her back in small circles and kissed the top of her head. Something finally clicked in his mind, "Did you take a test?" 

Jemma lifted up her head to look him in the eye and burst into tears, trying to explain herself at the same time. "I don't know what I was expecting!" she wailed. "No one gets it on the first try! I don't know why I thought I would be different. I mean I didn't even think I was pregnant, it didn't feel like last time, but I thought hey every pregnancy is different. Its just- I just, and I planned and I circled, and I prepped, and and, and we did everything right! I took 5! 5 tests all with that negative sign on them! I don't know why I'm crying!" she blubbered on. 

Fitz cut her off, "Hey it's okay, we can try again, and again, and again, and again, I would love to raise another kid with you, but if it doesn't happen now, it doesn't happen, it's no use to blame it on anyone or anything. If we try for say... 6 months, and we don't get it, then we can go speak to someone, see if we need other options, okay Jemma? This is not your fault. You did not fail, you're brilliant, you're an amazing best friend, wife, mum, and will be an amazing teacher. You're perfect." He pulled Jemma closer, running his fingers through her hair. 

Jemma calmed down and whispered, "I love you."

"I love-" they were interrupted by a 4 year old screaming. 

"MUMMY!"

"-you too," Fitz finished lamely. Jemma laughed in spite of herself and tried wiping of the tears. Fitz caught her hands and stopped her, instead wiping away the tears himself, he pressed a kiss to her forehead lightly, "You have a little person who desperately wants her mum."

"Yah, come down soon?" Jemma asked trying to hide how much she needed both of them to ground her right now, which was silly, they had faced much more harder and traumatic situations, but still she needed them. 

"Of course," she let go of his hand and headed downstairs, to go help her daughter get ready for the day.

~~~~~

"What am I looking at?" It was Alya's nap time and Jemma was planning out some lessons at the breakfast nook, Fitz walked in and had slapped down 3 tickets in front of her.

"Tickets," Fitz explained, rather unhelpfully. 

"Yes, I can see that."

"We have a lot to celebrate Jemma. Almost a full year of Perthshire, Alya's starting preschool in two weeks, you're starting your new job in two weeks. We celebrated 19 years of being friends a couple months ago, 7 years of being together a few months before that, and we're trying to have another kid, that's a lot of things to celebrate. And, you've been way too stressed with everything lately, you need a bit of a break." 

"Fitz! School starts in 2 weeks, I have so much to do!"

"You'll work in some place with a view, I can easily get you access to the best internet, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Alya's never even swam before!" Fitz pointed out. 

Jemma huffed, "When, _hypothetically,_ would we be leaving?" 

"In two days."

"In two days?!" Jemma shouted incredulously. 

"Calm down, don't be mad. I knew you'd want to be back with time to spare before you had to report at your job, and it's only going to be a three day trip, what do we need to pack?" Fitz pointed out.

"It's not just you and me anymore able to run off whenever we please-"

"I seem to recall us never doing that." 

"Seychelles."

"Weeks of planning, and weeks of convincing Coulson, that isn't running off whenever we please." 

"Anyways! We have Alya, do you know how much you have to pack when packing for a baby?!"

"She isn't a baby, she's four. She doesn't need bottles or a carrier or any of that. Sure, she'll probably have more stuff than us, but what do we really need? Some clothes, some swimsuits?"

Jemma crossed her arms and pursed her lips, considering the trip. She finally sighed. "Start packing your bags."

"It'll be good for you. I promise," Fitz said kissing her and then getting up to get everything sorted. 

~~~~~

Jemma was sitting on the bed of their Air B&B, the view was pretty she'd admit, but she much rather would have liked to just have stayed in their cottage, it was it's own kind of beautiful. She was tapping away on her computer, writing lectures and planning lessons. Alya was down for her nap in the other room, and Fitz came into their room with a cup of tea, his hair still wet from when he and Alya had just been in the ocean. "Come out with us next time?" he asked, sitting down next to her, resting his head on her shoulder. 

Jemma shook her head, gesturing to her schedule and her inbox that was already filled with emails from the school and future students, "I have too much work, I have to-" 

Before Jemma could go into a frantic rant of all the things she had to, _again_ , Fitz interrupted her, "Jemma, stop. You're doing the worrying thing again. Take some deep breaths." Once Fitz was satisfied that Jemma had calmed down a bit he pointed out, "Why do you think I brought you here? So that you could take a small break from worrying each day, do something fun with Alya and I, that's new and exciting! To celebrate how far we've come! 10 years ago I thought I had lost my mind and my best friend, a little less than a year ago, you didn't remember me or Alya, but we overcame that. 

Jemma sighed, "When did you become the one who was convincing me to go swimming?" They both grinned at remembering Jemma dragging him to go swimming back in Boston, a memory that's been tainted from when she dragged him from the water. 

Fitz read her mind, "Let's make new memories in the water." 

"I'll join you two," Jemma decided. 

"Good." Fitz squeezed her hand. "Don't work too hard, okay?" he laid down on the bed beside her, intent on using Alya's nap time to his advantage. 

"Thanks," she murmured softly, placing a light kiss on his lips before turning back to her work. After 20 minutes of failing to concentrate on the computer, she looked down at her husband sleeping peacefully beside her. He didn't have circles under his eyes, he had a faint smile on his lips, and his face was softened in contentment. Leaving S.H.I.E.L.D was one of the best decisions the couple had made, but joining S.H.I.E.L.D was also on that list. Jemma missed S.H.I.E.L.D, she missed life with her family, she didn't miss the horrors of her old job but sometimes she missed the thrill of it. She didn't regret their decision, just looking at how much Fitz had changed and Alya's bright smile made her heart happy, but she still missed it.

~~~~~

Alya couldn't swim right now, yet they were in the ocean, and that terrified Jemma. Sure, they were in maybe a foot of water, if that, and Fitz wouldn't let go of her for very long, him fearing their past experiences just as much as her. She forced herself to laugh when Alya splashed the water in her face. And she played along, trickling water along Alya's arm, but she still couldn't get it out of her head the dangers of the water, and what memories it had held for her and Fitz. Every once and awhile Fitz would reach across and squeeze her hand, knowing what she was worrying about, after all he was the one who had brain damage because of it, but he didn't seem to be phased. 

~~~~~

"Alya and I are thinking about swimming in the pool for a little bit before dinner, that okay?" Fitz asked. Both of them were drying themselves off with towels, Jemma also helping Alya get all dried off. 

"But you just spent the entire day swimming, aren't you tired?" Jemma asked. 

"Well yah, but Alya really wants to go out again." 

"But the pool is so deep..." Jemma trailed off knowing she was being silly. 

"Alya, go get your swimming toys," Fitz said, Alya didn't argue, he didn't call her 'monkey' so she knew something was wrong. He waited for her to run out before he started, "Jemma. She has her floaties, and I'll be there the entire time." 

Jemma sighed, "Yah, you go I'll have hot chocolate ready once you come out."

Fitz kissed her, "You are the absolute best." 

"Don't you forget it."

Jemma watched from the window as her daughter and her husband played in the pool. Fitz was clearly tired, and she knew Alya would be out before bed time tonight, but they were both having the time of their life. She smiled at them giggling and laughing but then she stopped.

Her breath caught.

Fitz put Alya up on the ledge and told her to jump in to his arms. Jemma watched as Alya jumped into her father's arms, she was underwater for maybe a second and Jemma was two seconds away from running out and scooping her out, forbidding to ever go near water again. But of course, Fitz brought her up in no time, never failing to catch their daughter. She breathed normally, shaking her head and her worries away. 

The rest of the day was filled with cuddles and Jemma dealing with a sleepy Alya and Fitz. They laughed and teased and tickled, and Jemma forgot her worries, until that night. 

~~~~~

_"One breath, but there's two of us?" It was dark and cold. Both of them bruised and bloodied._

_"I couldn't live if you didn't." Jemma tried to scream that she felt the same way but no words came out._

_"You're more than that." I love you, you idiot, don't kill yourself for me, I FEEL THE SAME WAY! Again she couldn't say anything_

_"Let me show you."_

_"It'll be okay." No, not without you. It wouldn't be okay, if I didn't have you._

_Her dream self finally found the words, "NO!" but it was too late, dream Fitz hit the button, just as real Fitz had hit the button. She felt the awful sensation of water crushing in around her, she relieved the frantic hysterical searching for Fitz's body, desperate to not leave him there._

"Jemma, Jemma, Jemma!" 

Jemma's eyes fluttered open and she gasped. She felt Fitz pull her up into his body, and she didn't argue. Silent streams of tears flowing, not making a noise. 

"I'm here. Alya's in the next room, we're here, and we're all okay," Fitz whispered, understanding why she had this particular night terror. He ran his fingers through her hair, trying to ground Jemma. 

Once Jemma trusted herself to speak without breaking down, she spoke up, "In the pod. You, you hit the button."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Jemma." Fitz winced, knowing that him dying for her getting to live a life might have been easier for him, but his younger self had never even thought to dream what she would do without him, how she would go on. "I'm sorry that I did that, but it worked out, you saved me. I'm sorry that I died, but I came back to you, and I'm never going to leave you again. I've been with you the whole damn time, haven't I?"

"It's just when I see Alya in the water, I can't help but think of what happened to us."

"What happened to us was because we were involved in a dangerous organization, not swimming on holiday. But, if it worries you that much, shouldn't we help her become a better swimmer, so that it will never happen, and that she'll be able to get out of it," Fitz said, playing a long with Jemma's reasoning. 

Jemma sniffed, "Yah." Fitz ran his fingers through Jemma's hair, even once her breathing evened out and he was sure she was asleep, she needed him right then and there. "Hey Fitz?"

Jemma whispered meekly, she hadn't fallen asleep after all, "Yah Jem?"

"Thank you."

"Course," Fitz kissed the top of her head. 

"For being with me."

"The whole damn time?" Fitz smirked. 

"The whole damn time."

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT ANOUNCEMENT #2:  
> I still have not made up my mind with the gender of the child but I did realize that I need to name the poor kid. PLEASE LEAVE NAME SUGGESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS! It would help greatly.  
> ...  
> Sorry it took so long to update! School has had me a bit busier than I expected. But thank you for all the support and love as always. This one does have a hint of angst (I'm so so sorry, it's not much, I promise) but makes up for it with tons of fluff.  
> Thank you all for the lovely feedback, feel free to keep commenting feedback/suggestions/baby name and gender suggestion!!


	20. First Day's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya's and Jemma's first day of school!

Jemma woke up on her first day of teaching with a smile on her face. She had already gone in for a week of meetings and prep, but this was her first day with students, getting to interact with them, teach them about the wonders of biochemistry. She rolled over to tuck herself back into Fitz's arm for the few minutes she had before she needed to get ready but he wasn't there. All she felt was the faint warmness he had left on his side of the bed. Jemma sat up confused and went to look for Fitz. 

He wasn't in the bathroom, so the only place left was downstairs, he wouldn't be in the lab this early. Sure enough, the smell of pancakes engulfed the whole downstairs. Jemma came downstairs to see her husband making a mess of things in the kitchen. He normally left it quite messy but whatever he made was always delicious. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him, "You're up early," she commented, amused. 

"Well, I wanted my girls to have a special first day at school." He said, flipping a pancake. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Jemma asked concerned, Alya and her were going to be busy but Fitz was going to be all alone, something he hadn't been in a very long time. 

"I'll be alright, I can keep myself busy, besides she's only there for half days, I only have to worry about her and you for about 5 hours, and then I just worry about you!" 

"I'll text you updates as soon as I can."

"Oh good, tell me how long the kid in the back stayed asleep even after you finished the lecture."

"Hey!" Jemma crinkled her nose. 

"Kidding." Fitz quickly kissed Jemma while putting the pancakes on the plate. "You'll be the best teacher, no one will fall asleep."

"Like Professor Vaughn," Jemma said recalling their old professor. 

" _Unlike_ his class actually," Fitz corrected. 

Jemma rolled her eyes, "You better tell me how Alya is as soon as you get her." 

"Mmmh," Fitz said offhandedly. 

"Let's go wake up our big girl," Jemma decided. 

The couple went upstairs fully expecting to see Alya fast asleep, covered in blankets, and curled up with Mr. Monkey in her arms. Instead they saw a fully-dressed Alya, backpack on, sitting on her bed. Fitz stifled a laugh at seeing her backwards shirt and inside out cardigan. "What are you doin' up so early monkey?" Fitz asked, going to sit next to her, and pulling her on his knee, Jemma joining them on the bed. 

"I've been up for a while! I was too excited!"

"Oh sweet girl, why didn't you come get us?" Jemma asked. 

"The clock hadn't turned green yet!" Alya explained. 

Jemma sighed, she had known that clock would come back to bite them in the future. They had gotten a clock that changed from red to green once she was allowed to get up at a reasonable time, when she had woken up at 4 am thinking it was an acceptable time to wake up her daddy, who was not happy. "You do know that if you have a bad dream or can't sleep, you can come get us right?" 

"Okay mama!" 

"Come on let's help you get dressed a little more and then we'll have daddy's surprise, okay?" 

Alya's blue eyes lit up and she smiled up at her dad at hearing that there was a surprise, "Okay!" 

~~~~~

"Wow. Okay. It's happening. Alright," Fitz said in disbelief once it was time for them to leave the house.

"Oh Alya, you look very grown up," Jemma said, straightening Alya's cardigan to avoid bursting into tears. Alya stood a little straighter when she heard that she looked grown up. Jemma wiped her eyes and stood up, "Pictures Fitz!"

"Right. Pictures!" 

They giggled and cried, right there on their steps, taking a million pictures. One's of just Alya, one's of all three of them, candid shots, posed shots, everything in-between, before they were dangerously close to Jemma being late. They pulled up to Jemma's new college. Fitz and Jemma took a deep breath. 

"Are you sure you want this?" Fitz asked, Jemma nodded. "You are going to do amazing Jemma," he said with every ounce of sincerity in his voice. He quickly kissed her, and Jemma squeezed his hand meaning _'Thanks'_ but was too nervous to trust herself to talk. 

"Mama?"

Jemma cleared her throat and turned to the back seat, "Yah Alya?"

"I love you!"

"I love you too! You have a great day at school. Learn lots, make friends, and smile!"

Alya's smile grew even wider than it already was, "Okay mummy!" 

Jemma sighed wistfully and took one last look at her family, "Love you!" she yelled over the barrier of the car's door. 

Fitz watched Jemma walk into the building, Alya and him yelling 'Good luck!' and 'I love you!' until their voices were hoarse and they couldn't see Jemma anymore. Fitz sighed "You can do it Jem," he mumbled under his breath, before he consulted his watch. He smiled and turned around to look at Alya, "Hey Alya, we have a little bit of daddy-daughter time before school! Sorry you're just stuck with me," he chuckled. 

Alya frowned, "Why are you sorry?" 

"Oh. I just mean, um. We aren't normally split up and I just assumed you'd miss mummy," Fitz stumbled through, inwardly cursing himself for his self-deprecating joke. It wasn't setting a good example for his daughter, and he had tried to stop, but this one just slipped out. 

"I love both of you! Equally!" she looked very proud to have remembered that word.

Fitz smiled at his daughter, "I love you too." 

~~~~~

They arrived at Alya's school but she was still a little early. "Alright monkey, we'll just wait in the car for now. You can come up here while we wait though," Fitz offered, motioning Alya to unbuckle herself and climb to the passenger's seat.

"Are you a little scared?" Fitz asked her.

Alya heisted a little and then nodded, "But only a little!" she insisted. 

"Of course." Fitz nodded, and then he cleared his throat, "You know, it's okay to be scared, but you are our smart, brave girl, so we know you can do it."

Fitz ran through what he needed to say before he dropped her off, "Oh! What do you tell the other kids when they ask you where you're from?" 

"Scotland! Lived here my whole life!" Alya paused, "Daddy, why do I have to lie?"

Fitz put his hand to his face and sighed, "Remember? The other kids have never heard of anyone living in the stars, they wouldn't believe you if you said that you lived in the stars, better to just bend the truth a bit with this one thing."

"So I can say that Quake is my Aunt?" Alya asked, excited.

Fitz sighed, "No, they won't believe that either."

"They won't?" Alya asked saddened.

"It'll be okay, I promise. You can tell them about your really cool Aunt Daisy, and about how you like to star gaze with your parents and pretend you live up there!" Fitz reasoned.

"Okay daddy!"

Fitz checked his watch and sighed, "Alright I'm going to go drop you off now, okay?"

"Yay! I get to meet new friends!" Alya cheered, barely waiting for Fitz to help her out of the car. Fitz held her hand and walked her across the street. He took her in to the building and to her classroom and stopped outside.

"Okay Alya," this is where I leave you, Fitz swallowed back tears and squatted down to be on Alya's level. "Give me a hug, monkey." 

Alya ran into her daddy's arms and Fitz clutched her tightly, not willing to let go just yet. "I love you so much. Have a great time, make lot's of friends, and remember, okay, that it's okay to be scared, just be my brave girl for me."

"Okay daddy," she whispered in his ear. "I love you." 

Fitz smiled and gently let her go, "I love you too."

Alya tuned around and went into the classroom, without him, she turned around one last time to give him a small wave, but then marched on ahead to make friends. Fitz chuckled, she was certainly braver than he was as a kid. He just sat in a corner with legos, Alya was going to have a great time at school, he had no doubt. He watched her be assigned at a table and start to draw, chattering on about anything and everything with the person next to her. She looked so grown up, all on her own, in her uniform, talking to people that weren't adults and her family. Fitz shook himself out of his daze. He shouldn't just stand and stare at her, that would be a step too far, and it looked like her teacher was about to make him leave anyways. 

Fitz found it extremely hard to leave the parking lot. _What if she ran out with tears streaming down her face?_ No, Alya would be fine, he told himself. As he turned the key and pulled out of the parking lot. 

~~~~~

Fitz came home to an empty house, the first time he'd ever come to their home in Perthshire with out a little girl leaping into his arms welcoming home. He walked into their kitchen to find the remnants of their breakfast, so he set to work cleaning up. Once he finished up he checked his phone.

_6 new messages_

Fitz opened his phone to see Jemma asking how Alya had done, when she was dropped off. Fitz reassured her that when he had left she was already talking to kids and looked very excited. 

The rest were just from the S.H.I.E.L.D. team telling him to tell Alya she was going to do great. _Whoops._ Well he'd just tell them that she had love their messages, what they didn't know wouldn't kill them. Fitz was debating going down to the lab to actually tinker, something he had been avoiding for a while when he got a call from his mum. He quickly answered it. 

"Hey mum!" Fitz said, a little too excitedly.

"Good morning Leo, how are you?" Linda asked kindly.

"Alya just started school, she was very excited, she had already gotten dressed and ready by the time Jemma and I went up to wake her up!" 

Linda chuckled, "That's great. But honey, I asked how you are doing." 

"Oh. Right." Fitz paused, unsure of how he was going to answer the question. "Not sure. I'm just you know, alone in the house. And I think, oh maybe I should just go and tinker in the lab, maybe contact Mack. But, I don't think I'm ready for that. But then look at Jemma and Alya, both moving on, doing amazing things, I mean Jemma forgot her daughter less than a year ago and already is moving on. I don't know why I'm not ready yet," Fitz admitted. 

"I have no idea what you're on about, but I will tell you this, everyone grows and heals at different paces and in different ways, Jemma's way of healing may be throwing herself into another project, another thing to matter. Yours is taking a break, after all you've been through, you deserve a break. And if at some point you find you miss the lab, go to the lab! Tinker! Sketch! Design! It doesn't have to be for S.H.I.E.L.D. or for Mack, it could just be for you to keep yourself busy. And then if or when you feel ready enough to consult, do that. No one's pressuring you to heal faster than you need to," His mum reasoned. 

Fitz chocked back a sob, "Thanks mum." 

"Now give Alya a big hug for me when you pick her up and tell her I'll see her tomorrow!"

"Okay mum, love you."

"I love you too." Fitz clicked the end call button and shakily got up, and headed out to the shed. Fitz took a deep breath as he out his hand to the fingerprint scanner and headed straight towards his lab desk, pulling out papers and pencils and his tablet. He wasn't fully emerged as he normally did when he worked on a project, he kept looking at his watch for when he needed to head to pick up Alya from school. When it was finally time to leave to pick up Alya from school, Fitz looked back on his work. He smiled, flexing his fingers, it had felt good to create again. He decided not to show Mack his thoughts until he felt ready, which he had a feeling wouldn't be for awhile, but at least he was doing something with his time besides just worrying about his girls. 

Fitz waited outside the building of Alya's school, where he was supposed to wait with the other parents, although he want to run inside and grab her, but he stopped himself. He tapped his foot as all of the half day pre-schoolers came flooding out, keeping an eye out for a little girl with white blonde hair. "Daddy!" he heard Alya squeal when he saw her. 

"Monkey!" He exclaimed, as he bent down to pick her up, and hug her close. "How'd it go!"

"I love school!"

Fitz chuckled, so proud of his little girl, "Do you now?"

"We learned things I already knew, so it was sort of boring, but it was fun being with new people!" 

"Did you make some good friends?" Fitz asked, sucking in his breath, hoping that she didn't take after him. 

"I think so, I won't know until I've talked to them a little more," Alya stated matter of factly. 

Fitz laughed, "What's their names?" 

"Alice, Kathy, and Ben!" 

"Ben?" Fitz raised his eyebrow, then shook his head because one, she's four, and two, he was best friends with Jemma when they were a kid. _Yah, but then you married her. Shut up,_ he told himself. 

Alya imitated her mother and rolled her eyes, "Daddy!" 

"What do you say about a Daddy-Daughter date?"

"Ice cream?"

"Maybe..." They both giggled and walked away and got into the car. Fitz sat down in the driver's seat, Fitz's pocket was blowing up, "Bloody hell," he mumbled. He turned back to Alya, "Don't tell your mum I said that in front of you." Alya grinned, and giggled. He checked his phone which was full of people asking how her day went. "Okay Alya I'm going to need you to send a message to everyone saying it was good, just say hello, I liked it, and then that's it, kay monkey?" 

"Okay!!" Fitz pointed the camera towards Alya, "Okay... go!" 

"Hello!! I had so much fun on my first day! Everything we learned I already knew, but it was still fun! Love you all!" Alya put on her winning smile. 

"Perfect." Fitz sent it off to everyone on the group chat that they had designated for updates of Alya. "Okay now another one just for mummy, make sure to wish her luck on the rest of her first day too!" Fitz queued up another video, "It's rolling!" he declared. 

"Hi mummy! I love you so much! I just got done with school! I made some friends, we'll see if their good friends, but their names are Alice, Kathy, and Ben! I knew everything we learned which was kind of sad, but I still had lot's of fun, I love you so much! Have fun with the rest of your school!" 

Fitz turned the camera around so it was facing him, "Love you Jemma, we can't wait for you to come home, and hear all about your first day, you are doing great!" He stopped recording and sent it off. "So, ice cream?" 

"Ice cream!" Alya confirmed. 

~~~~~

_"It's rolling!" Fitz declared._

_"Hi mummy! I love you so much! I just got done with school! I made some friends, we'll see if their good friends, but their names are Alice, Kathy, and Ben! I knew everything we learned which was kind of sad, but I still had lot's of fun, I love you so much! Have fun with the rest of your school!"_

_Fitz turned the camera around so that Jemma could see his face. "Love you Jemma, we can't wait for you to come home, and hear all about your first day, you are doing great!"_

Jemma laughed and wipe a tear off her face, and quickly texted back "Love you both xx."

"Um, Professor Fitz-Simmons?" A nervous student asked. 

"Oh yes! What can I help you with?"

"I just was confused on the assignment you assigned us earlier today, I had a break between classes so I thought I'd clarify it, now, unless you're busy." The student gestured at her phone. 

Jemma looked down confused at her phone and then laughed, "Oh no I'm not busy, it was my daughter's first day of school today so my husband sent me a video of her first thoughts since I won't hear it till tonight."

"Oh that's sweet, what's her name?" the student said sincerely. 

Jemma's heart swelled at getting to talk about her daughter, "Alya." 

"That's a pretty name, she must be really smart to have a mum who had two PhDs by the time she was 17." the student named Lottie pointed out. Jemma looked surprised that Lottie had known that, "I do my research on all of my professors," she explained. 

Jemma laughed, "Well her father also has a PhD so she's very clever."

"Who?" 

"Dr. Leopold Fitz-Simmons, he's an engineer."

"Family of scientists, that's so cool!" she said enthusiastically. 

"Yes it is, what was it that you needed help with?" Jemma asked, eager to be able to help. 

~~~~~

Fitz checked the time on his watch, "Monkey, we have to go pick up mama now!" 

Alya exclaimed, "Yay!" her face then fell and glanced at the slide, "Can I go down one more time?"

"One more time." Fitz nodded. Alya squealed all the way down, and Fitz scooped her up and put her on his shoulders, "Come on, mum's probably worried out of her mind." Alya just giggled in response. 

The two pulled up to the university and Jemma wasn't out yet. "What do you think of going in and surprising her? Class should be out." Alya nodded and the two walked in, heading straight to Jemma's office. 

"Mummy!" 

"Alya!" Jemma dropped the papers she was putting in her bag on the desk and bent down, accepting Alya in her arms. "How was school sweet girl?" 

"I loved it!" Alya admitted. 

"I'm so, so glad." Fitz joined the two and slid his arms around Jemma's waist and kissed her, "How was your first day, anyone fall asleep?"

"No," Jemma scowled. "It actually went really well, I'll fill you in later tonight. How about you, how was your day."

"I designed some things,"

"For S.H.I.E.L.D?" Jemma asked, surprised.

"No! No, not yet, I'm not ready for that, just getting back to the swing of things. I already went off my hiatus when I gave Mack those framework updates 6 months ago, I need a break."

"Well those _were_ for personal use," Jemma pointed out. 

"Point is, I'm not doing anything for S.H.I.E.L.D. for awhile longer. Then Alya and I went on a little daddy-daughter date. We went to the playground and then-"

"Ate ice cream!" 

"You did?" Jemma asked, "Was it yummy?" 

"Mmhh!"

Jemma suddenly had a thought, "Alya, where did you tell them you're from?"

Alya looked at the floor, "The stars, I'm sorry! You just told me never to lie, and I felt bad." 

"It's okay, sweet girl, you did the right thing," Jemma said kissing her forehead as Fitz groaned. 

"We're going to get a call from the school in an hour, aren't we." 

~~~~~

After a wholesome family evening together and a very amusing and frustrating call with Alya's school, the couple were curled up on the couch together, Alya already in bed. 

"How were you really?" Jemma insisted.

"I wasn't doing great, but then my mum called me and knew exactly what to say, made some really good points."

"Which are?" Jemma dug. 

"Everyone heals differently and at different rates."

"That's some good advice."

"She's good at that kind of thing." Fitz cleared his throat, "Anyways, how was your day?" 

"It was really good, people actually seemed engaged!"

"I knew it," Fitz mumbled into her ear.

"There was this one girl that came up to me after class, Lottie, and she asked about Alya, and we talked for a little bit." Fitz burst out laughing. "What?" Jemma asked confused, crossing her arms. 

"She was totally trying to suck up to you!" 

"No!" 

"You did that all the time at the Academy!"

"Well it clearly helped." She had graduated top of their class. 

"Exactly," Fitz pointed out. 

"Well, I will never grade based off of how much I like a student."

Fitz laughed again, "Please, you and I both know she's already your favorite student."

"Maybe," Jemma muttered, letting Fitz kiss her. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENT:  
> I have figured out what the gender of the Fitz-Simmons child is! But I have NO idea what to name it so here is another google form: https://forms.gle/i9m4s5zmDDgHfmL2A (There will be both genders to avoid spoilers)  
> ...  
> Thank you all so much for all of the feedback and suggestions and kudos and help! I really appreciate it! Thank you for giving me all the support, it makes my heart happy.  
> I also have set up a tumblr for any requests for anything, I most likely won't be posting anything over there, but ya know if you want to shoot me a message @bookscoffeerainyday  
> Have a lovely day!


	21. A Happily Ever After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma keeps some secrets from Fitz...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE HAVE MADE IT TO THE EPILOGUE OF THE SHOW!  
> *Note-just because it's called Happily Ever After DEFINITELY DOES NOT mean that this is the last chapter, I have several more planned (and would love more suggestions). It just fit best.

Jemma sighed and realized that there was no more avoiding, she had places to go, it was a rare warm day in Perthshire for this late in the season, and they had their annual meeting, no, get together, with the team as well as they had promised Alya a picnic in the garden, rain or shine, and she had to do that anatomy analysis still. Jemma hit her head, she had forgotten to do that! She'd have to do it after Fitz went to sleep, he was still a bit touchy with the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. consulting debate.

She quickly looked at the white sticks in her hand, expecting them to be negative as they had been the past 3 times. But, something about it made her stop and look at if more closely. _Those were positive signs._ Jemma let out a little squeal, _she was pregnant!_ She quickly covered her mouth, grateful that Alya had dragged Fitz downstairs to help her build a fort. Jemma sunk down against the wall of the bathroom to sit on the floor, staring at the white stick in disbelief and utter joy.

Jemma lightly pressed a hand to her still very flat stomach, "Hey baby. I can't believe that you're finally coming, we've been hoping for you for awhile now." her thumb was brushing her sweater now, "I can't wait to meet you, but I guess I'll have to wait for a few more months, huh?" Jemma decided to wait till that night to tell Fitz that she was pregnant, she couldn't hold out for long, he knew her too well, and her routine pregnancy test check ends today, so he expected her to take it at some point today. "Weird, I haven't felt sick yet," Jemma muttered to herself. At this point last time she had already been retching in the toilet. Jemma gagged, "I spoke too soon." Next thing she knew she was retching into the toilet. 

~~~~~

"Well, I don't know yet, you'll have to ask your mum, she should be coming down soon..." Fitz told Alya, he looked up when he heard the creaks, "Right on time Jemma, Alya was wondering when Grandma Emma and Grandpa Paul were coming for a visit."

Jemma put on her best poker face, "I don't think we have one planned for anytime soon, I'll mention it to them, I'm sure they would love to see you."

Alya nodded satisfied, "Hey, you okay, Jemma? You took a pretty long time." Jemma just shook her head, hoping that he would think she meant that it was another negative. 

"Oh. Alya can you go get dressed for me?" Alya nodded and ran upstairs to go put on some clothes. Fitz came over to Jemma and wrapped her in a hug, "We'll get there."

She just nodded weakly into him, letting slip a smile when her face was pressed against his chest. She composed her self and plastered on a smile, "I know, thank you."

"You sure you're okay?" Fitz asked, searching her face for any sign of her being sad, but there really wasn't, she was so happy.

"Yes, I mean I had my moment upstairs, and now we move on with our life."

"Okay, well if you're sure..." Fitz trailed off, not quite believing her. 

Jemma cleared her throat, "How's the fort coming along?"

"Oh, it's going, it'd almost be done if Alya wouldn't keep grabbing pillows to hit me while I was in the process of making it," they both laughed, wrapped in each other's arms. 

Alya came bounding down the stairs, proud that she had picked her own outfit, "Look! We're matching!"

Jemma and Fitz looked at their pastel turquoise shirts and laughed, "We are, monkey!" Fitz said, lifting her up in the air. "Let's finish that fort before mummy and daddy's get together."

~~~~~

"Okay Alya, in a few minutes we're going to be meeting with our friends, we'll still be here, be able to feel everything that's happening, but we won't be able to talk. So could you be patient for us while we go in please?" Jemma asked her daughter, stroking the white blonde hair. They were in their garden having the picnic that they had promised Alya last night. It was a sunny day in Perthshire, probably one of the last of the year. Alya was trying to soak up the last rays of the sunshine, without needing her hat and sunglasses, items that had once been a staple for her, but now laid forgotten in the bottom of a drawer. 

Alya's lip started quivering, "You're going to be seeing Aunt Daisy and Grandpa Coulson and Uncle Mack and Aunt Mi-" 

"It's going to be very boring. You'll be glad you weren't there!" Fitz tried to cover. Alya wasn't letting up, "Maybe we can set up something with Aunt Daisy soon and you can have a call with her, would that be okay?" 

Alya's face lit up as Jemma and Fitz knew it would. They finished up their sandwiches and Fitz pulled Alya on to her lap, just in case anything happened to her while they were under, he would be able to feel it immediately. "See you in a minute," he winked as he put on the framework device he had designed. The one and only thing he had both made and designed during retirement, 'It's a personal problem that needed to fixed!' was his reasoning. 

~~~~~

Fitz was enjoying seeing his friends, talking like old friends, like nothing had changed, but in reality, everything had changed. He was a better man than he had ever been, thanks to Alya. Everyone else had their own lives and their new issues. He could tell Jemma missed the team's new kind of issues, but he didn't care, that would put them in danger and they were done being put in danger. Fitz couldn't bear to loose either of his girls. Speaking of his girls, he could still feel Alya on his lap, but he was sure she would start getting restless soon. Sure enough, he felt playful punches from small hands. 

Fitz chuckled, and leaned across to Jemma, "This little monkey's punching me as hard as she can in the leg, we should go." Fitz turned to the rest of the team, "We're having a picnic in the garden, she's being very patient." Fitz looked around one more time at his teammates, that had become his friends, and then had become his family, and now they were scattered all across the universe. He missed them, but he wouldn't trade his new life for the world. "Well, bye everybody." Fitz lifted his hand to where the device was located on him in the real world and switched it off. 

"You're awake!" Alya squealed when she saw his eyes flutter open. 

"Course I'm awake, because a little monkey kept hitting me!" 

Alya screamed and got up, running away from the blanket, Fitz chuckled and got up to go chase after her. He cornered her and she came running into his arms as they both laughed as he scooped her up and he ran with her in his arms.

Jemma watched all of this from their picnic blanket, smiling at their happily ever after that they had finally gotten. She gently placed her hand to where their unborn child was growing, thinking about how once again their life was going to change forever. Jemma put her hand to her side quickly and got up, chasing after Fitz and Alya. When she got to them, Fitz gladly wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss to the top of her head. "You okay?"

"Yah, thank you for making those framework devices for me," Jemma said, leaning against his shoulder.

"I made those for everyone!" 

Jemma looked at him and said, "I was sobbing about how much I missed everyone and the next day you came to me with the plans for those."

"Yah well, I got the idea, and I just realized that all I had to do was-" Fitz was cut off by Jemma kissing him, he let Alya down on the ground, distracted by Jemma. Alya lightly punched his leg until she got his attention. 

Fitz smirked, "Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons!" he said jokingly. 

Alya screamed and laughed and ran away, Fitz following quickly behind her, "You can't catch me daddy!"

"Yes I can, little monkey!" He said as he scooped her up and put her on his shoulders. 

Alya laughed and screamed and then stopped suddenly, she pointed up to the sky, "It's a rainbow!" 

"That means good fortune sweetie," Jemma said, who had come up behind them. 

"I wish for a little sister!" Alya screamed to the heavens and the gasped and covered her mouth, "Was I not supposed to tell anyone? Is it like birthday candles?"

Jemma forced a laugh after being so taken off guard, "No, it doesn't work like birthday candles, you're okay, it still could come true."

Fitz noticed something was wrong, "Alya, go finish your lunch, we'll be right there, kay monkey?" 

Alya nodded sadly, "Okay."

Fitz put her down and whispered in her ear, "And if you sneak an extra chocolate biscuit, no one would know." 

"Okay!" she brightly cheered, and ran off. 

Jemma rolled her eyes at his not so subtle whisper, Fitz turned to her with worried eyes, "Are you sure you're okay, you've seemed off all day, and that laugh was definitely forced."

Jemma sighed, she had been hoping to do this after Alya was asleep but just her luck, she couldn't even keep a secret from her husband for six hours, "May as well just tell you now, I was going to wait, but it doesn't really matter." Jemma's tone of voice was very serious now, "You can't tell Alya anything for a few weeks okay?" 

Fitz nodded, "Okay Jemma."

"I'm pregnant." 

Fitz's face softened from concern to absolute delight and love for Jemma and his family, "Jemma," he breathed. "How long have you known?"

"Since this morning, I'm still rubbish at keeping secrets." 

Fitz's face morphed back into concern, "How are you feeling?"

Jemma laughed, "I've only thrown up once, and I feel perfectly alright."

"I think you and I have different definitions of perfectly alright," Fitz shook his head. The couple stayed there for a moment, soaking in each other's presence in the drizzle of rain. Jemma's head was laying on his chest, Fitz stroking her hair and peppering kisses all over her head and face. "Jemma. You're pregnant," he said again.

Jemma smiled, "I know." 

"We're going to have two kids," Fitz said with disbelief. 

"Alya's going to be a great big sister, isn't she?"

"The absolute best," Fitz responded. "But, we better hope it's another girl." 

Jemma laughed, "Do you think they're a girl? Since you were so sure last time." 

"I don't know yet, let me process this a bit more and then I'll let you know," Fitz chuckled, still not quite believing the subject they were discussing, even though they had been wanting and hoping for it. "When do you think we should tell Alya?" 

"Let's give it a couple weeks, I want to tell her first, but if I have an early miscarriage, I don't want to disappoint her." 

Fitz nodded solemnly in understanding, and then broke into a smile, putting his hand to where the baby bump would grow, "Hey little one, we love you."

"Oh Fitz, this one's going to see the sun, and play around in the grass, and not grow up in a metal cave in the stars!" Jemma exclaimed. 

Fitz nodded, a tear threatening to escape, "Yah, I'm glad we can at least give them a good life. This is precisely why we cut ties with S.H.I.E.L.D, no more consulting, or anything of the sort." 

"Fitz." Jemma said firmly, putting her hand to his face, "We gave Alya an amazing first 3 years of life, it may not have been a normal one, but it was one full of love and laughter and happiness, don't you ever say that again, okay?"

"Alright Jems." Fitz looked over to Alya who was still deep into the biscuit box, "We should get back before she eats all of them." 

"You're just worried that she'll eat them before you get any," Jemma crossed her arms. 

"Maybe," Fitz smirked. 

~~~~~

Fitz woke up to a cold and empty bed, he half smiled at realizing what this meant, all though it did mean she would be getting sick, she was pregnant, and that was something they had been trying for, for a long while. Fitz decided to get up to see if he could do anything, but the bathroom light wasn't on. She wasn't in the kitchen, the sitting room, or Alya's room. He even checked the guest rooms, one that he'd have to turn into a nursery, Fitz mentally put on his to do list. 

Fitz got increasingly worried, _what if something had happened to Jemma?_ She wasn't answering his calls or his texts so he decided to try one last place before he feared the worst and called Mack, making him send his best agents over. Fitz half hazardly shoved his jacket on and went outside, running as fast as he could to the lab, although he couldn't imagine why she would be there this late at night, especially when she was pregnant, she wouldn't be using dangerous chemicals. He slapped his hand on the scanner, yelling at the stupid thing when it told him that he hadn't placed it at the right angle. Finally he got the door to open, and there was his beloved Jemma, sleep deprived and safe. 

"Oh Jemma. Thank God." He pulled her into a tight hug, "Please don't ever do that again."

Jemma looked startled and tried to shut down her monitor, Fitz took no notice, too engulfed in being relieved. "What? Oh," realization dawning on her. 

"What did you think I would think? When there is no Jemma anywhere in the house, I thought, I thought some one took you. I thought..." he didn't finish.

"I'm right here," she murmured into his ear, "I'm so sorry, I didn't think, I just had to do this thing for Daisy, and then..." Jemma trailed off realizing she had slipped. 

"Jemma? What are you doing for Daisy?" 

"Sending a list of movie ideas to show Sousa?" Jemma weakly suggested. 

Fitz crossed his arms, "You and I both know that's not true." 

Jemma pulled up the alien anatomy analysis that she had just sent Daisy, "She mentioned she had found new life forms and I was interested and she offered to send it over to me instead of the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists."

"You're consulting?" Fitz asked, trying to hide how upset he was. 

"No! It's just through Daisy." They both knew that it was a half step away from consulting but Fitz knew he didn't have to call her out on it, she knew. 

"How many of these have you done?" 

"Only two!" That much was true. 

"Jemma, we don't hide things from each other! We both know how that turns out!" They both thought back to A.I.D.A and their mind prison escapade, both hadn't turned out very well and had one common theme, hiding something from their other half. 

"I know."

"You were restless, so we got you a job at the university, and you only teach half the classes normal professors teach! We can't go back to consulting, at least not with Alya and then this new one, what if we're putting them in danger?"

"I know."

Fitz took a breath, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have burst out like that."

"But you're right. I shouldn't have done this, I'll tell Daisy it's the last one." Jemma knew that if she made some discovery or popped up back on the S.H.I.E.L.D radar lot's of people who needed that information or needed people with her expertise to work on something, they wouldn't hesitate to kidnap her and maybe even hurt Alya and Fitz.

"I just," Fitz's voice cracked, "I can't loose you, not again, I can't loose Alya, I can't loose this happily ever after."

"I can't either," Jemma admitted. 

At one point tears started flowing from both of them, happy tears, sad tears, neither of them were sure who had started it, but they both clutched on to the other as their anchor. "Let's get you both back to bed, okay?" 

Jemma nodded, smiling a little at that little word, _both._ They would be okay, they would continue on living their happily ever after, all four of them. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh we've finally made it! I know I'll do pregnancy, baby, and big sister Alya moments. But for any specifics or anything beyond that please give me suggestions! Cause at this point it's looking like 5 or so more chapters!  
> And again: Just because it's called Happily Ever After DEFINITELY DOES NOT mean that this is the last chapter, I have several more planned (and would love more suggestions). It just fit best.  
> Also shhh please ignore that it doesn't line up with school starting in the last chapter, maybe Jemma started teaching a summer course? Yep absolutely! (So early fall, last day of sunshine? Sureeeeee!  
> Oh my gosh I just got to over 3,000 hits, thats crazy!!! Thank you all so much for the love and support I really appreciate it all! Feel free to leave kudos/comments/suggestion!  
> Have a lovely day!  
> ~~~~~  
> Tumbr @bookscoffeerainyday


	22. Morning Sickness in Perthshire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma's pregnant! What will Alya think is happening? How overprotective will Fitz be this time? How different is an Earth pregnancy from a space pregnancy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I took a brief hiatus. School is stressful! In case you missed it I added a really short little filler chapter all about Christmas (it's chapter 16)! I recommend going to read that first, it's basically there cause I realized that I forgot seasons exist... whoops?

It was 7 am and Fitz had to start getting Alya ready for school, but he was currently rubbing Jemma's back on the floor in the bathroom. He checked his watch and sighed, "Jemma, I have to go get Alya ready for school." 

Jemma nodded, "Go." 

"You sure? I could get-" 

Jemma interrupted him, "Fitz, I don't have any classes today anyways, you go get her ready, take her to school, go get me some ice cream, and then come back home. I'll still be here, and I'll be fine." 

"Okay." Fitz pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I love you." 

"I love you too." 

~~~~~

"Come on Alya, time to wake up, and get dressed!" Fitz tried to force a cheerful tone into his voice. 

Alya yawned and sat up, "Why are you waking me up?" she immediately asked. 

"What?" Fitz asked, pulling out clothes for her to wear. 

"Mama wakes me up and you put me to bed, or both of you put me to bed."

"Oh," Fitz said. Alya was a very inquisitive and observant girl, clearly her mother's daughter. "Mummy's not feeling very well right now, so I'm taking you to school."

"Will she be okay?" 

Fitz smiled, "Yah, she's going to be just fine. But she might want some cuddles from her daughter when her daughter gets home from school." 

"That's me!" 

"Yah it is monkey," Fitz ruffled Alya's hair. "Make sure you go say good morning to her though!" 

Fitz then got himself dressed and ready and then made Alya a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs.

~~~~~

"Mummy?" Alya timidly opened her parent's bedroom door, "You okay?" Jemma had now transitioned to her bed, grading papers. 

Jemma smiled and set her papers aside, and put out her arms for Alya to come and sit next to her, "Yes Alya I'm alright, I just feel a little queasy. Thank you for coming to say good morning!" Alya nodded, "Excited for school today?" 

"Yah!" 

"You go on and eat breakfast, okay? Learn lots!" 

"I don't learn anything at school!" Alya called out as she left, "Love you!" 

"Love you too!" Jemma called back. Jemma sighed, Alya really hadn't learned anything since she started going to school and now she was in year one, full days of school, and she still hadn't learned anything, she was too smart, sometimes she knew things that her college students were learning. She was not at all ready for college level things, but she could see year five being challenging to her, but Jemma and Fitz had agreed they wouldn't bring it up to the school unless there was a real problem, they would let the school talk to them, and ultimately it would be Alya's choice. They had both gone off to college in America when they were 14, they didn't want to pressure Alya to do anything just because that's the path they had chosen. And it was a really hard path for both of them until the Academy came knocking, and they found each other. Everything seemed bearable with each other, they could do anything, they were unstoppable. Both Fitz and Jemma didn't want Alya to go through that. 

~~~~~

"Jemma, I'm home!" Fitz called out into the house, a grocery bag in one hand with ice cream in it. 

Fitz walked into the living room to find Jemma sprawled out on the couch, looking very pitiful. "Hey Fitz." 

"Hey Jemma..." He sat next to her, and she immediately put her head on his lap, "Bad day today?" 

"The worst one yet. I just want a glass of wine," Jemma sighed wistfully. 

"Well I dunno about that, but I do know about a nice cup of decaf tea and some ice cream." He lifted up the grocery bag.

"But it's 9 am! I can't eat ice cream!" Jemma wailed. 

"So you're okay with wine, but not ice cream even though you asked me to bring you some at 7 in the morning?" Fitz asked, amused, playing with her hair.

Jemma started crying, "You're right Fitz! I'm a train wreck!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Fitz pulled her into a sitting up position, and she immediately started blubbering into his shoulder. "You are far from a train wreck, okay Jemma? I love you so, so, much, and you are so brave for doing this again. You are the bravest person I've ever met, I love you so much. So much Jems." That calmed Jemma down, "Besides, compared to the last one, this will be easy peasy. Don't we have a doctor's appointment in 2 hours?" Jemma nodded weakly, "See, you didn't have that last time, we get to actually see the baby!" 

"I'm going to go make you some tea, and put the ice cream in the freezer for later."

Jemma laughed at herself, "Thank you Fitz. For dealing with me during this," she motioned to her tear stained face. 

Fitz just chuckled and shrugged as he went off to put the kettle on, "Course Jemma." 

~~~~~

"What if we find out that I had a short cervix and I was just really lucky with Alya?" Jemma asked. 

Fitz rolled his eyes, "That's not how that works, and you know it."

"Or what if I had gestational diabetes and I didn't know it and now I have to go through it?" Jemma went through her list of everything that could go wrong. 

Fitz parked in the hospital's entrance, and turned to Jemma, "One, leave all the worrying to me, I excel at that job. Two, Alya was perfectly okay, this baby will be perfectly okay. If we come into some complications along the way, we'll figure it out when we get there. After all, we have access to the best doctors and scientists in the world, we'll fix it."

"I know, I know, but it's just that with Alya I didn't allow myself to worry, because every thing was unknown and I didn't know what I'd do if something happened, so I decided to ignore the entire possibility."

"Let's go see our new little monkey," Fitz smiled softly, getting out to help Jemma out of her seat. 

Jemma accepted his hand and said, "Your going to have to careful with that nickname, Alya won't like it if you start calling someone else Monkey."

Fitz stopped and turned to Jemma, "We tell Alya today, please?" Fitz added on, desperately. "She's been really worried about you lately."

Jemma smiled at her daughter's kindness, "We tell her today." Jemma nodded, she didn't like keeping secrets from her daughter. 

~~~~~

"This will be a bit cold, sorry," The kind woman apologized as she gently spread the cream on Jemma's bare stomach. Fitz took Jemma's hand and squeezed it on instinct. The woman smiled at the gesture and then asked, "This is your second child, correct?"

"Yes," Jemma and Fitz answered at the same time. 

"Did you give birth here, or somewhere else?" The woman asked kindly as she searched for the sonogram device. 

"At a hospital in Boston." Jemma answered automatically. It's what Fitz put on all of Alya's forged documents. When she had looked a little closer at everything she realized that it was the hospital closest to the apartment they shared when they were at Sci-Ops, (as roommates of course). When she had first figured it out she immediately questioned Fitz about it.

_"Fitz!" she had screamed._

_"Yah?!" he came into the room, looking a bit worried, but had gotten used to the domestic yelling vs. the in danger yelling._

_"I was looking at Alya's documents a bit more closely, just to make sure you_ _hadn't made a mistake." Fitz opened his mouth to protest but Jemma got there first, "I know, I know, 'you don't make mistakes' but the hospital... isn't that? Isn't that the one in Boston?"_

_Fitz grinned sheepishly, "Is it? I hadn't noticed, must have just been the first hospital that popped into my mind." Jemma rolled her eyes as he came behind her and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her from above and behind, "And what if I did do it on purpose?"_

_"Then it would just confirm more of what I already know."_

_"What?"_

_"That you are the cleverest, kindest, most thoughtful man I've ever met, and that I love you so, so much." Jemma kissed him softly and tenderly._

_"I definitely did it on purpose," Fitz muttered, kissing her again._

_"I know," she said softly on his lips._

_Fitz had broken away with his silly grin on his face, "We really are just a cheesy, gushy, old married couple now aren't we?"_

_"So domestic," Jemma agreed. She then had tipped his face toward hers and kissed him._

Jemma shook herself out of her daze and payed attention to the woman starting to try to find the heartbeat and then Jemma and Fitz would be able to see their second child for the first time. On the screen in front of her the baby came into view. Fitz let out a gasp and squeezed her hand. It wasn't great quality, as she was only 3 or so weeks in, but the child, their child, was perfect. 

The lady let out a twinkle of a laugh and smiled knowingly, "Seeing the baby like this, never gets old does it?"

"No." Jemma smiled, and looked up at Fitz, exchanging looks. 

Fitz looked up at the woman, "Never."

After they finished and had already talked about all the logistics of everything, Jemma and Fitz were clutching the sonogram photos in their hand, but the woman wanted to stick around and make small talk for a little longer, apparently it wasn't a busy day. 

"So how long have you two been married?"

"5 years," Jemma answered. 

"Aw that's wonderful! How long have you two known each other?"

Fitz slipped his arm around Jemma's waist, "20 years in a little less than a year."

The woman about swooned, "Isn't that just adorable?" 

Jemma and Fitz nodded politely until they could leave the hospital, when they immediately burst into fits of giggles. "I think she's a bit of a romantic," Jemma commented. 

"Imagine what she would if she found out about all the rest? Traveling through space and time to find each other," Fitz elbowed Jemma, a glimpse of what their relationship used to look like 20 years ago. 

"They should make a movie about our relationship," Jemma remarked. 

"Better make it a TV show, too much to tell, not enough time in a movie." They got in the car and looked at the photos they were carrying, "Do you feel better Jemma?" 

"I do." 

Fitz opened his mouth but his phone started ringing, "Just one sec." he struggled to get his phone out and answered the call, lifting it up to his ear. "Yes Hello?" Pause, "Yes this is Dr. Fitz-Simmons." A longer pause this time, "Oh I see." Pause, "Fitz looked at his watch, "No, that should be fine as long as- okay. Sounds good." Fitz put his phone down. 

Jemma cocked her head to the side and said "What was that?"

"That was Alya's school." Fitz rushed to explain, "She's not hurt or anything like that!"

"Oh?" Jemma was confused. Alya had never acted up, here teachers all adored her and sure she may have the occasional robot tale or had some issues with sharing, but it was nothing that couldn't wait till parent teacher night. 

"They want us over there pretty soon for a meeting, I can say we can't come if you don't think you can handle it right now."

"I'm fine Fitz. Did they say why?" Jemma questioned.

Fitz looked as lost as Jemma did, "Nope. But, we have to leave now if we want to get there in time, the hospital is pretty far away compared to our normal commute."

"Let's go then." Jemma sighed, worried at what had happened

~~~~~

Fitz struggled to find a good position in his uncomfortable plastic chair. He looked at his watch, he bounced his knee and looked at his watch again. What had gone wrong? Alya was the sweetest and most kind hearted child he'd ever met, Jemma's hand rested on his knee to stop him from going crazy. 

"Dr and Dr Fitz-Simmons?" the receptionist called. Fitz immediately got up on his feet, the receptionist rolled her eyes at him, "The principal can see you now."

 _Really sounds like we're he one's in trouble honesty,_ he thought. The Fitz-Simmons' nodded and started towards the principals office, the principle, Mr. Jaspers, greeted them with a big smile, "Hello Dr and Dr Fitz-Simmons, how lovely to meet the parents of one of our star students!" 

Fitz tried to plaster on a smile but Jemma was smiling enough for both of them, so he gave up and went with a slight nod, "Please call me Jemma!" she replied. 

"Fitz is fine," he said as he shook Mr. Jaspers hand. 

"Alright, Jemma, Fitz, if we can all sit down then hopefully we can get on with the meeting!" After they were all settled in Mr. Jaspers glanced at Alya's record, "I'm sure you're wondering why you got a phone call, as Alya is shockingly bright for her age, and very kind to her fellow classmates. It does say here that she has an overactive imagination and she has a bit of a hard time with sharing, which is very common with children with no siblings, she'll grow out of it, I'm sure."

Fitz and Jemma exchanged a smile, and then a confused face, wondering what the problem was. "We're working on the sharing problem," Jemma explained. 

"That's not what I wanted to talk about," Mr. Jaspers waved it away. "As I said, Alya is a very bright student. So bright, that she is way ahead of her fellow classmates in kindergarten. This came to my attention and I gave her a placement test, to see what grade she'd do well in. She tested as a 3rd grader. Now I know that that is a big jump, and she would have some problems making friends, I do believe that being academically challenged is the most important part of school, with friendships second. Jemma managed to keep her smile plastered on, but Fitz couldn't help but roll his eyes, it was people like this who pressured him into moving to the states at 14 to get a PhD. Sure he'd believed it back then, but then he met Jemma and he knew that all of that was a lie. Of course, he wouldn't have met Jemma if he hadn't listened to them, but still, he wasn't liking this Mr. Jaspers, _maybe he could get Mack to do some background tests on him, put an agent on him_ , he mused. He shook himself out of the fantasy, knowing that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't bother with trailing an elementary school principal. 

"We'll have to discuss it." Jemma said with a level head. 

"But, I have everything you need to sign right here! You can let Alya know really quickly and then you can come back here-"

Fitz cut him off as he ushered Jemma out of the office, "Have a good day." he said coldly. 

~~~~~

Fitz and Jemma didn't talk much in the parking lot while they were waiting for Alya to get released from school. Fitz kicked a stone, willing the time to go faster. He replayed their earlier conversation in his head. 

_"We aren't forcing Alya to skip grades, right?" Fitz had asked, more of an obligation, he already_ _knew Jemma's answer._

_"Of course not! We'll talk to Alya about it but_ _ultimately, It's Alya's decision"_

_"It's Alya's decision." Fitz had said at the same time as Jemma._ _"Which news do we tell her first?"_

_"School. She won't be able to focus on anything after she finds out about the baby." Jemma placed a hand to her still normal size stomach, absent mindedly._

Fitz was pulled back into the present where things hadn't changed much from his daze. Jemma still had her hand on her stomach, it always made Fitz incredibly happy when she did that, it reminded him of all the good things. "Bell should be ringing any moment..." Fitz realized. 

On cue, the school bell rang and a few minutes later what felt like hundreds of kids poured out the doors. Alya spotted her parents and ran into her mum's arms, Jemma laughed, and brushed back the hair from Alya's eyes, "Did you have a good day sweet heart?" 

"Mhhh!" Alya launched herself into Fitz's arms, who immediately put her on top of his shoulders. 

"Monkey, what do you think about getting some ice cream?"

Alya squealed and laughed, "Yes please!" 

~~~~~

The family had just gotten their ice cream and Alya's face still showed remnants of the sticky treat. They were back in their cottage and Jemma and Fitz sat down Alya to have a series discussion. It didn't seem fair that a 4... almost 5 year old had to make this big of a decision that would change her life forever, but they didn't have a choice. Jemma started, "Your daddy and I went for a meeting at your school today."

Alya stopped swinging her legs back and forth, "What'd they say?"

"That you are a star student and way above the level of everyone in your class!" Fitz said ecstatically. 

But Alya, living up to her title, was clever. She crossed her arms and said, "We already knew that."

"Yes we did honey, but your principal told us that you are so bright and clever that he'd be okay if you skipped some grades. But know that you really don't have to okay?" Jemma explained. 

Alya looked like she was getting excited, "What grade would I be going to?!" 

"3rd grade. But if you wanted to try skipping some grades we could just start with first grade, but you don't need to skip a grade at all."

"I want to skip!" Alya declared. 

'Are you sure's' rang out among the parents. Alya nodded. "What grade do you think you want to skip to?" Jemma asked kindly

"3rd grade!" Fitz and Jemma exchanged wide eyes. 

"Alya, I have no doubt that you'll be able to do it school wise, but you might have trouble making friends, because you're not as old as the rest of them." Jemma told her gently. 

"I can handle it!" Although the parents trusted Alya, they knew she didn't know what was right for her. "If I don't make friends, I can just have play dates with my friends in kindergarten on Saturday's!" Alya explained. 

"Your mum and I will talk about it, and then we'll reconvene later," Fitz decided. 

Alya jumped up off the couch and walked up the stairs, "Where you going?" Jemma asked. 

"Upstairs! So you can talk!" she said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Fitz got up and scooped her off the steps, "By talking about it, I mean a two hour conversation about it, after you go to bed." He sat her down on the couch in between Jemma and him. 

"D.W.A.R.V.E.S.?" Jemma mouthed behind Alya's head. 

"Deployed." he mouthed back. He turned back to Alya, "Your mum and I have another exciting thing to tell you!"

"Really?!" Alya squirmed in her seat. 

Jemma pulled out the photos from the sonogram, "We have pictures of it." she handed the pictures to Alya who starred at it, puzzled. "Do you know what it is?" 

"No... What is it?" If Alya found something she didn't understand, she wanted to figure it out, quickly. 

"I'll give you a hint where it is," Fitz said. 

"Where is it?!" Alya demanded to know. 

Jemma smiled and placed a hand on her stomach, which went unnoticed by Alya who was still staring expectantly at her dad. Fitz smiled warmly, "It's in mummy's belly." 

Alya's eyes trailed down to where Jemma's hand was resting, "You're going to be a big sister, Alya," Jemma said softly. 

Alya's grin was ear to ear, her blue eyes wide, "I'm going to be a big sister! My wish came true!" She launched herself into Jemma's arms. 

Jemma stroked her white blonde hair, "It did sweet girl, it did."

"When do I get to meet her?!" 

Jemma refrained from rolling her eyes at how similar Alya and her dad were, "You'll meet her or _him_ in 8 months or so."

"That's in forever!" Alya wailed. 

"All the more time to prepare all the things that need to be done!" Jemma reasoned.

"Now Alya, you can't tell anyone that Jemma's pregnant okay?" Fitz said urgently.

"Not even grandma?" Alya asked. 

"We'll tell them all eventually. Grandma will probably be pretty soon, but unless we tell you otherwise, no one knows, and you can't tell anyone... It'll be your mission!" 

Alya considered it for a moment, "Okay da." The three of them stayed where they were, Alya in between Jemma and Fitz's lap, Jemma leaning on Fitz's shoulder. Happy and excited for the new path they were going to take, giggling every so often and tickling the other every so often until Alya bolted up right, "Is that why you've been sick?"

Jemma laughed, "Yep!" 

Alya turned to Fitz, "Do you think you could read me one of mum's biology textbooks before bed tonight so I can learn how babies are made?!" Fitz started a coughing fit at being so taken a back and Jemma laughed, while Alya became even more frustrated, "What?!" 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I am so so sorry that I've only been posting like once a week if that. I still have lot's of plans for the Fitz-Simmons!  
> This time the pregnancy will be spread out between chapters because there's lots of things going on besides the pregnancy this time, rather than them being stranded in space with nothing but the pregnancy to worry about.   
> Like my little breaking the fourth wall? 😆  
> As always feel free to leave comments/kudos/suggestion! Thank you all for all of your support, you reading this means so much to me!   
> Have a lovely day!  
> ~~~~~  
> Tumbr: bookscoffeerainydays


	23. The Secrets Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They tell the fam about the new addition!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for not writing as much... I wish I had more time!

"So..." Jemma started. She was laying on Fitz's chest in their bed, "My parents are planning on coming down this week."

"Yah."

"And I was thinking that we could have your mum and my parents over for lunch on Saturday?" 

"Sure sounds good." Fitz was running his fingers through Jemma's hair. 

"And then we tell them?" Jemma asked cautiously. 

"'Bout what?" Fitz said. 

Jemma sat up and shoved him gently, "Fitz!"

"Joking Jem. I can't keep a lie from my mum, I'm pretty sure she already knows honestly." They both laughed at how suspicious Fitz's mum had been the past two weeks. "Alya's only known for a week and she about told everyone she knew the second day." 

"And I'm bound to start showing sooner rather than later, second pregnancy and all." Jemma reasoned. 

"Can I invite Hunter over in a few weeks, to tell him?" Fitz asked, sounding like a second grader begging for a play date. 

Jemma laughed lightly, "Sure. I'll schedule a framework meeting with each of the team members, it's so hard to get all of us together, I wish I could tell them all at the same time," Jemma sighed. "And in person." 

"I know." Fitz sighed, equally as wistfully. Jemma grunted and shifted her pillow. "You alright?" 

Jemma grimaced, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Fitz asked again.

"I'm pregnant Fitz, and I'm tired."

"Okay," his voice still sounding worried. They settled back into a sleeping position, "G'Night Jemma."

"Sweet dreams Fitz," Jemma mumbled. 

"Uh oh, your mum is showing," Fitz joked. But instead of getting a gentle jab in the side, he just heard the sounds of Jemma fast asleep. "I love you Jemma." Fitz settled down and wrapped his hands around Jemma, one of them resting on where her baby bump would soon begin to grow, "I love you too, but don't give your mum too much trouble, okay? She's already been through enough." Shortly after he drifted off to sleep as well. 

~~~~~

"So what do you think of coming up for Saturday lunch?" Fitz was on the phone with his mum, Jemma was in the other room grading papers, and Alya was drawing pictures for when her grandparents came. "No, no nothing special, just Jemma's parents are spending a a couple days with us and Jemma thought'd be nice if everyone got together for lunch." There was a pause until he rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue at Alya, making her giggle, "No mum, there is no announcement." _She can definitely see through these lies,_ he thought. "You don't _have_ to come if you don't want to y'know." Fitz quickly covered up his mistake when she started yelling at him, "Okay, okay, alright, sorry, yes, we will see you soon. Alya can't wait! Yes... yes, love you too." Fitz sighed in relief once he hung up the phone. He slid in to the seat across from Alya, taking a blank paper and some crayons. 

"You just lied!" Alya exclaimed, pointing a finger at Fitz. 

"What? No I didn't!"

"You told Nana that there was no announcement on Saturday!"

Fitz groaned at his slip up in front of his daughter, but nevertheless corrected his mistakes, "You're right. I shouldn't have lied. I just really, really, really want to keep this a surprise. Will you forgive me?" 

"Of course daddy!" Alya exclaimed. 

Fitz couldn't help but grin at Alya, "Can I have a hug from my monkey?" 

Alya got out of her seat and Fitz lifted her up on to his knee. Alya wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, Fitz breathed in her scent and kissed her hair. Alya turned around and looked at what Fitz was coloring before he called his mum, "What's that?" 

"Don't tell mama, but it's plans for the new nursery for the baby." 

"It's beautiful."

Fitz chuckled, it was just a crude sketch using red crayon, "Thanks sweetheart. Are you excited to be a big sister?"

"Yes! We're going to be best friends!" 

"I hope so monkey." Fitz had never had siblings but he knew that siblings were notorious for hating each other, he didn't want his kids to hate each other.

"Daddy?"

"Yah?"

"Why do we always have lemons on the table? When ever I go to friends' houses they always have flowers, but we always have lemons." Fitz sucked in his breath, he barley thought of Deke anymore, something that pained him to admit, but when Mack had first gifted them this house they had put lemons on the breakfast nook table as a subtle nod to their lost teammate, their lost grandson. It stuck, whenever they were out of lemons, (which was a lot, Jemma liked lemon in her tea) Fitz would always pick up more lemons, and would always put them in that bowl. Whenever he bought them he had a pained smile on his face, remembering someone he didn't get to know half as well as he should have. 

"You know how we used to work with Uncle Mack, Aunt Yoyo, Aunt Mindy, Aunt Daisy, Grandpa Coulson?" 

"And Uncle Hunter!" Alya piped up, Fitz chuckled. 

"Well another person we worked with, he was like family, he moved away." He _was_ family.

Alya looked like she had the most brilliant idea ever, "But everyone except Nana doesn't live close! We can still see him, like the others!" 

Fitz smiled at how his daughter always wanted to help and fix the problem, "He's not allowed to ever speak to us again, or it may put him in danger." He was just telling his daughter more lies. Jemma and him had agreed that they'd tell her the full story at some point, but not now, not when she was so young. "He is your," he took a deep breath, "Uncle Deke, and he had a thing with lemons, so to honor him and his memory, we always have a bowl of lemons. Does that make sense?"

"Yah."

"Okay." Fitz set her down, "Now finish making your cards."

~~~~~

"It's good to see you again Mr.-" Fitz trailed off, seeing the look Jemma's parents had given him, "Emma and Paul."

"And you too Fitz!" Emma said, engulfing him in a hug once again. It had been hard for the grandparents to accept that suddenly they were grandparents but now they embraced it, loving little Alya with all their hearts, and easily accepting Fitz into the family.

"My mum is just in the kitchen there," he gestured back. 

"Oh I haven't spoken to Linda in so long!" Emma made her way back to the kitchen and helped finish up lunch. 

After lunch was made and eaten the extended family was sitting in the dining room, just talking and catching up. Jemma asked Fitz a question silently, and he nodded slightly. Jemma turned toward Alya, "Hey sweetie, do you want to go put on that new shirt you just got to show your grandparents?" 

Alya breathed in deeply and nodded like she was about to put on the most important shirt in the world, she knew the plan of course, and she didn't want to be the one to ruin it. A chorus of 'Yes, let's see!" rang out from the adults. Alya grinned and left to go put on her new shirt. 

Once Alya had left Emma turned towards the parents had asked, "So how is first grade _really_ going?" Fitz and Jemma thought long and hard about how to handle the skipping class situation. Since Alya clearly wanted to do it, they decided to only jump up one for now, on the condition that she had a play date with one of her kindergarten friends once a week.

"She's only had a few days of it, but so far it's still easy for her." The parents chuckled knowingly, they knew what it was like to have children who were geniuses. 

"She hasn't made any friends from first grade yet, but so far her kindergarten friends still like her." Jemma added on. 

"She'll get there," Paul commented. 

"Yes! How could anyone dislike her sweet little face?" Emma added on. 

They stopped talking when they heard a small voice call from upstairs, "Are you readyyyy?" 

"We're ready monkey!" Fitz replied with several yes's joining him. Alya came down the stars proudly, wearing a white T-shirt with simple black lettering that said the words, "Big Sister."

"I knew it!" Linda exclaimed. 

"Jemma?" Emma asked expectantly. Fitz had stood up at this point and was standing behind Jemma's chair, wrapping his arms around her, they were both beaming, Jemma nodded. 

All at once the adult's chairs scooted back, there were hugs upon hugs, tears, laughs, along with Alya wanting to be in the action. Once everyone had calmed down a bit Linda demanded to know, "How long have you known?"

"Three weeks. I'm 5 weeks along though." Jemma answered. 

"And how are you feeling?" Emma asked. 

"A lot more tired than last time, nauseous, and relieved that I have actual medical care." Jemma said, she was still wrapped in Fitz's arms, with her hand on Alya's head below her. 

"Have you gone to the doctor yet?" Paul spoke up. 

"We went pretty much first thing," Fitz said. 

"Would you like to see the pictures?" Jemma asked excitedly. There was a lot of cooing and passing around of the picture, Fitz and Jemma looked at each other and decided that they were so glad to get to share this experience with their parents.

~~~~~

_Hello Daisy!_

_I was wondering if we could have a framework meeting soon? Alya's been really down lately, it's been hard for her to make friends with skipping a grade. I know a little talk with her Aunt Daisy would cheer her right up!_

_Let me know when/if you're available!_

_-Love Jemma_

Jemma sighed and closed her laptop, "I sent out the last one!" she called. 

Fitz popped his head out from the bathroom, still brushing his teeth, "Ne ribeis?"

Jemma rolled her eyes at his incoherent words, "Spit it out before you talk." Fitz spat in the sink. "No, no replies, not yet."

"Our parents took it well don't you think?" Fitz asked as he climbed into bed with Jemma. 

"Overwhelmingly so. We should've waited till it was my parents last day here. Now they all are doting over me and wanting to take me and the baby shopping."

"We get to do that this time! You don't have to steal all my clothes and stretch them out this time!"

Jemma rolled her eyes, the couple laid down wrapped in each other's arms, "Fitz?" Jemma spoke up. 

"Yah?"

"Do you think we're telling people too soon? I mean, what if I have a miscarriage? We'll be disappointing everyone. And Alya-" Jemma worried, but Fitz cut her off. 

"We didn't get to tell anyone last time, I think we're just excited to share this with our loved ones this time. And if you have a miscarriage, we'll have our family with us to mourn with us. Alya will be okay, okay?" Fitz reassured. 

Jemma sighed and snuggled deeper into his arms, "Your right. Why am I so worried? I like it better when you're the worried one."

"Me too. Can we switch now?" Fitz kissed her head. 

"Sure."

"Love you."

"Love you."

After they said their goodnight's Fitz started thinking and he realized something, "Oh no, I have to drive you to a hospital this time. What if you give birth on the way to the hospital, and then I have to deliver the baby."

"Fitz! Too much worrying!"

"Sorry."

"It's alright." Jemma reached up and kissed his cheek, "It's alright. I'm alright," she whispered.

Fitz pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, "Good." Jemma drifted off to sleep but Fitz stayed there, holding her close, worrying about any harm coming to her, the baby, or Alya. 

~~~~~

"Which one do we have today again?" Fitz asked, mouth full of cereal. 

"Mack and Yoyo," Jemma answered automatically. "I have work today, but afterwards, we have a call at 4, everyone got it?" The two other Fitz-Simmons' nodded. They were telling everyone one their team in shifts, because their schedules were too busy to coordinate something all together, what with time zones, and missions, and well, space. Today was their first one and Jemma was nervous. 

Jemma looked at her watch, "Okay Alya, time for me to take you to school!" Alya stuck out her tongue. Jemma's face softened, "What's wrong sweetie, is it the kids in first grade?" 

"No, they're okay. I like my playdates with Luna though!" Alya said brightly. 

Jemma and Fitz smiled at their daughter, "But what was the face for?" Jemma pushed. 

"It's so easy!" Alya exclaimed. 

Fitz sighed, "I know monkey. When I was your age I did all I could to learn more. I was constantly tearing things apart and rebuilding- something my father didn't like very much." Fitz froze realizing he spoke about his dad, he coughed and continued, "We're just worried about you getting too ahead of yourself or isolating yourself." 

Alya's lip quivered and Jemma started getting their stuff ready to leave, "We try first grade for another 2 weeks, and then we see where we're at."

"But mama!" Alya wailed. 

"2 weeks," Jemma replied firmly. 

~~~~~

"Okay, remember you've done this before?" Fitz said gently to Alya. He was squatting down so he was eye level with her, "You put it on your forehead, like this," he placed hers on her forehead. "See it doesn't hurt!"

"How does it work?!" Alya asked fascinated. 

Fitz chuckled, excited that his daughter was interested in the mechanics of what he had invented, "Maybe we talk about this another time. I think mum wants us to be on time for this one." 

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"It's time!" Jemma called, she winked at Alya and turned her framework device, turning stoic. 

"Alright, we turn just like mummy did, okay?" 

"Okay!" 

"We do it together, yah?" Alya nodded. "One, two, three!" 

Fitz looked all around and was relieved that a second later Alya appeared right next to him holding his hand. "Let's do it again!" she exclaimed. 

Before Fitz could respond Yoyo appeared and Alya ran towards her for a hug. "Aunt Yoyo!" 

"Pequeña!" Yoyo said, equally as enthusiastically. 

Mack then appeared, Fitz called out, "Nice of you to join us oh great and powerful leader!"

Mack rolled his eyes, "Good to see you too Turbo." He turned to Alya, "And you Mini Turbo." 

Alya shrieked, "Uncle Mack!" 

Once they said their greetings Mack looked distracted as if someone was talking to him on his side, "I'm really sorry to only be here for a little while but, I have something to do. This is nice, we should do it again. Longer, but again." Mack and Yoyo also thought they were just making Alya happier after a tough day. 

Alya cried out, "Wait! I have some pictures of school to show you!" She took out of her jacket pocket the photos her mum had given her, "Here!" she thrusted them into Mack and Yoyo's hands.

Yoyo let out a scream and Mack smiled ear to ear at the sight of the sonogram pictures, "Congrats Turbo!" 

Yoyo bent down so she was face to face with Alya, "How do you feel about being a big sister, pequeña?" 

Alya's twinkled, "I'm so excited!"

"When are they due?" Mack asked. 

"35 weeks," Jemma said brightly. 

~~~~~

"When are they going to get here?" Coulson said impatiently, tapping his foot. 

May rolled her eyes, "It's not like you have have any commitments to get to. They're a busy family, Alya's keeping them on their toes."

The Fitz-Simmons family appeared in their chosen framework meet up spot, "Aunt Mindy!" Alya squealed when she saw May. 

Coulson joked, "Ah so I see where your true loyalties lie." 

Alya ran and hugged him, "I love you too Grandpa Coulson." Coulson's heart melted at the little girl. 

"She is named after her," Fitz pointed out. 

"Right, I expect to have a talk when there's baby number two on the way." Jemma turned bright red, and Coulson immediately tried to cover his tracks, "Right, er, sorry. Was I not supposed to say that?"

"No it's just that-" Jemma started, she sighed and nodded to Alya, "Why don't you show them the pictures from school?"

Alya eagerly handed May the picture, May smiled, "I think you'll be even more tired than me pretty soon." 

"Congrats! It really does feel like just yesterday when you two joined the team, bickering and finishing each other's sentences."

"And not shutting up," May added, smiling fondly at the memory at the young and innocent version of the couple standing before them.

"And not admitting you were in love with each other," Coulson added. 

"Alright, alright we get the picture," Fitz groaned.

Jemma smiled at Fitz and kissed his cheek, "We got there in the end didn't we?" 

"Do you want a brother or a sister Alya?" May asked. 

"Oh no," Fitz groaned. 

"I want a little sister!" Alya said quickly and excitedly. 

"You do, do you?" May asked, amused. 

Coulson raised an eyebrow, "You haven't thought of this much at all, have you?" 

" _And_ I want her to be named Ennenome!" Alya was still going through her fish faze. 

The adults all laughed. 

~~~~~~

"How's my favorite niece doing?" Daisy asked as soon as she saw Alya. 

"Amazing!"

"We're doing good too, in case you were wondering..." Fitz said teasingly. 

"I've known you for 8 years, I just found out about this little fishy a year ago, you guys are old news." Alya looked proud to be the chosen favorite. 

"I mean we do have more news, but if you don't care about us anymore..." Fitz trailed off, smirking. 

Jemma elbowed Fitz in the side, "It's good to see you Daisy." 

"You too nerds." Jemma smiled at her best friend, she was happy, something she hadn't seen on her in a long time. Daisy cleared her throat, "So what's the news? Fitz feel the need to remodel the kitchen again?"

Jemma rolled her eyes, "No. Alya wanted to show you a picture of school."

Alya showed Daisy the sonogram picture, and Daisy immediately put Alya down and hugged Jemma and Fitz, it wasn't the same through the virtual world but it was the best they could do. Daisy wiped the tears from her eyes when they separated, "I'm so happy for you guys."

"We're really happy,' Jemma said, slipping her hand in Fitz's. 

Daisy suddenly got really serious, "When do I need to come back to Earth?"

Jemma laughed, "35 weeks is when they're due."

"I'll be back. Guest room open?" 

"I don't know, I think my mum wanted to come down the first few weeks to watch Alya-" Fitz rolled his eyes, "No! It's always opened, you know that. It's yours if you can bribe Mack." 

"I'll do my best," Daisy laughed. 

~~~~~

Fitz was laying down on Jemma's lap on the couch, after Alya's bed time. Jemma was playing with Fitz hair and Doctor Who was playing in the background. "It went well didn't it?"

"Of course it did," Fitz said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

"I love you." 

"I love you too Jemma." 

"I love our family."

"I do too." 

"I love our life."

"Jemma? Are you alright?"

Jemma looked down at Fitz and smiled brightly, "I am absolutely perfect." Jemma leaned down and kissed Fitz while Amy and Rory kissed in the background. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went back and changed Fitz's mum to be called Nana... the two grandmothers got confusing to write!  
> I realized I hadn't mentioned Deke in a long time, which is very sad because Deke deserved better! Or at least closure! And I got major sadness thinking that Alya doesn't even know him... so now I have a feeling that lemons will always make her happy and think of her unknown BUT NOT FORGOTTEN Uncle Deke.   
> Notice how I avoided saying the month the kid is due in because that means structuring these a lot more and making decisions on when Alya's birthday. :)  
> Thank you all for bearing with me and all the support! Please feel free to leave kudos/comments/suggestions for other one shots/Au's/or something in this story!  
> Have a lovely day!  
> ~~~~~  
> Tumblr: @bookscoffeerainydays


	24. An Anemone in Perthshire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did somebody say gender reveal??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger warnings for panic attacks and anxiety.  
> I'm so sorry that I took a very long hiatus. Please forgive me!! I explain it all in depth in a post titled "Dear Readers." I recommend going and checking that out.  
> New fic alert!!! I have a new FitzSimmons series I'm working on titled "Soulmates can be Platonic" It is focused around academy era baby FitzSimmons, so I'm excited to play around with the same characters, just before all the trauma and bad stuff!  
> Thank you all so much for sticking with me it means a lot.  
> Oh yah and I'm active on my tumblr! Follow @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive drabbles and ficlets! Also an easy way to get in touch with me for prompts which I am always open too.

Fitz was working late at night in the lab. It wasn’t that he had anything in particular to work on. He just couldn’t sleep, and liked tinkering. Fitztensed up when he heard the intercom crackle. That was weird for them. They hadn’t really felt the need to use it, it felt like they were at a S.H.I.E.L.D. base when they could just as easily text or call on their phones. He waited a few seconds for Jemma to speak, but nothing happened. “Jemma?” Fitz asked, the worry evident in his voice, this pregnancy had made her especially tired and it was one in the morning. It was weird for her to be awake at this time.

“Fitz.” Jemma gasped, “I think I’m having a panic attack.”

Fitz was already out the door when he heard Jemma say his name shakily. He ran across the yard to the front door, out of breath, it being a while since he last had to run for his life. He walked into the living room and saw Jemma curled up on the couch, hyperventilating and crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. Fitz walked toward her quickly and sat next to her. He reached for her hand, for at least a reasurance that he was here. He didn’t want to do more than what she needed right now. But he didn’t have to worry about that as Jemma flung herself on him as soon as he sat down. Fitz smiled and rubbed her back. Jemma used to have panic attacks relatively often, especially during the academy, so he knew exactly what to do. Fitz whispered encouragement into her ear and why and how much he loved her. About 30 minutes later her breathing started to regulate. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” Jemma finally admitted. “I’m sorry-“

“Don’t apologize,” Fitz chided.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Of course. Jemma I don’t like seeing you in pain. I hate it actually. So anything I can do to help, I want to.”

“You did.”

"What was this one about?” Fitz asked.

“Started off about the pregnancy. With Alya, I didn’t allow myself to worry, I couldn’t worry. There was just… too much to worry about. But now I’m letting myself worry, and it’s not good.”

Fitz nodded, “And then where did it go?”

“Daisy, what if we lost her? In combat… we all know she’d do anything, even put herself in harms way for others. Yoyo, Mack, May, wherever Deke is, if he’s okay, if we can ever get to him. You, oh god you. I can’t loose you, ever.”

“I’m not going anywhere, okay? I love you too much for that.” Fitz reasured, squeezing her even tighter.

“And then Aly-“ Her voice cracked and she wasn’t able to finish the sentence. She didn’t need to.

“Alya’s alright. Do you need to go and see her?”

“No, no it’s fine. I’m fine now.”

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes, until Fitz softly spoke again, “I haven’t seen you have a panic attack in a long time.”

“Yah, I was getting better,” Jemma said wistfully.

“You still are better.”

“I remember when I first had a panic attack in front of you,” Jemma murmured.

“I do too. I was so scared that you were having a heart attack or were dying and I didn’t know what to do!”

“You handled it perfectly.”

“I brought you tea when it was over and then left! Honestly, what a British thing to do.” They both laughed.“Why don’t we go to bed. It’s almost 2 am and you must be horribly tired,” Fitz suggested.

Jemma sleepily agreed. And so they made their way up the stairs to bed. They laid down and Jemma curled up against Fitz, Fitz’s arm immediately went around her now visible bump, as she was now well into her second trimester. “I love you Simmons” he murmured. Right then the baby started kicking and both of them smiled, both of them impatient to meeting their new member of their family.

~~~~~

“So I’ll drop you and Alya off at school, do some errands, then come back when your class ends, go on a lunch date, then go to your OB-GYN to find out Anemone’s gender, right?” Fitz and Jemma were sitting at the table, planning out their day tomorrow.

“Sounds perfect. Any guesses? You were so adamant on a girl last time, but you’ve only referred to baby as ‘Anemone’ this time around,” Jemma pointed out. They had asked Alya what they should name the new baby and Alya who is still very much in her fish phase, decided Anemone would be their name. Although Fitz and Jemma were positive they would never name their second baby ‘Anemone’ they had all taken to calling it that for the time being.

“Well we already have a pretty biased view, I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.”

Jemma sighed and marked something on one of the papers she was currently grading, “She’s going to be devastated if we have a boy.”

“Maybe. To start with, but I think she’ll end up just being so excited to have a younger sibling, and a new person around the house besides the two of us, she’ll end up forgetting about it.” Fitz grabbed one of Jemma’s pens and started doodling on one of the kids papers.

“Fitz!” Jemma slapped his hand away. “These kids have worked hard on these. Don’t mess it up with your doodling!”

“I’m just gonna bring them a little joy in their life with a monkey saying ‘Good job’ or something.,” He defended himself. Jemma huffed and rolled her eyes, letting him continue with his doodles. “And please tell them that,” he went into his ‘Jemma voice’ that he hadn’t used in ages, ’your amazing husband drew them each a little doodle, to bring happiness into your lives, so if you ever see a guy with curly hair trailing around a blonde toddler, go thank him for changing your life’”

Jemma rolled her eyes again, “How about if anyone asks or comments about them I’ll credit you,” Jemma kissed him slowly and deeply, “That’s my final offer.”

“That works fine for me.” After a few minutes of both of them working hard silently Fitz spoke up, “I just want them to get along.”

“Who?” Jemma asked absentmindedly, flipping through pages.

“Alya and Anemone. I’ve heard all of these horror stories of people not getting along with their siblings. I know they’ll fight, but I just want them to be friends.”

“I do too, but Fitz, there’s a 7 year age gap between the two, they aren’t going to be best friends.”

Fitz sighed and made his monkey’s ears darker, “I know.”

~~~~~

It was the next morning and Fitz and Simmons were on their way to the Ob-GYN. Their normal doctor greeted them, as cheerful as ever, “Hello Mr and Mrs.- oh! Excuse me, you two are too smart for that , Dr. and Dr. Fitz-Simmons,” she corrected herself. “It’s lovely to see you again! If you’ll just come in here and we’ll get you started.”

Fitz rolled his eyes when she turned her back on them, Jemma promptly jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

Jemma got situated on the table and their doctor made small talk, “So where did you guys meet?”

“We met at this school for people that already had doctorates and wanted to improve upon their education and do good with their smarts,” Jemma rattled off.

Fitz decided to jump in, “We were the two youngest to ever enroll, still hold that record I believe.” Jemma coughed, Fitz rolled his eyes, “Yes of course, Jemma is 23 days younger than me, so technically she wins the title.”

“Oh so you two must have gotten paired up a lot!”

“We managed to last a few months without working together actually,” Jemma corrected.

“We had a bit of a nemesis thing going on. But _then_ we were paired together and became inseparable.” Fitz finished.

Jemma’s doctor was still clearly intrigued and the lotion laid forgotten on a table, “And you started dating a few months later.”

Fitz started violently coughing, Jemma smiled and rolled her eyes, “We didn’t actually start dating till 10 years later.”

“Did you go work other places when you graduated then?”

“Nope, we worked side by side for the entirety of those 10 years. Just didn’t cross our minds,” Jemma shrugged.

Fitz chimed in, “Took her almost dying for us to figure it out.” He saw the doctor’s eyes light up and quickly spoke up before she asked more questions, “We have some place to be, could we, um maybe keep going.”

“Oh! Yes right!”

They saw the baby on the sonogram and Fitz and Jemma’s breaths were taken away yet again, not being able to believe that that was their kid. The magical moment was interrupted by the doctor asking, “Do you want to find out the gender.”

Fitz shrugged and motioned to Jemma who immediately said, “Yes!”

“Well I’m proud to announce that the Fitz-Simmons family is welcoming a new baby…” she paused (for way too long in Fitz’s opinion), for dramatic affect, “girl!”

Fitz swooped down and kissed Jemma and whispered, “I love my girls,” and then handed her a sealed envelope, “Called it.”

Jemma quickly opened the envelope and found doodles of a clearly female baby with a female monkey, and a pink fish all encircling that awful hand writing of Fitz’s saying “girl”. In another life Fitz could be a children book illustrator, she mused. “Liar!” she exclaimed.

Fitz shrugged, “I didn’t want so much pressure on you with Alya really wanting a little sister.”

They stopped when they heard sniffing in the corner, “Oh! Don’t mind me, I’m fine. You two are just,” she blew her nose, “really cute!”

Fitz grinned, “That’s two for two isn’t it?”

“Let’s go tell Alya.”

“Can we take her out of school, she isn’t learning anything anyways!”

“No I have an idea in mind for how to tell her, but it requires some shopping.” Fitz groaned.

~~~~~

“How was school, sweetheart?” Jemma called when Fitz came home with Alya.

“Boring! But fun.” Alya dropped her backpack in the middle of the floor, “What did you do today?”

“Put your backpack where it belongs, young lady.”

“Yes mama.” Fitz came in to the kitchen and ruffled Alya’s hair as she went to go put her backpack away.

He wrapped his arms around Jemma’s waist, and kissed her neck, “You never did tell me what happened when you gave everyone their papers back today.”

Jemma sighed, “Everyone loved them and laughed. It took the edge off the kids who didn’t do well, and they all thanked me afterwards for the laugh, and I had to tell them that my husband did it.”

Fitz laughed, “Are you serious?”

Jemma nodded glumly, “And now could you do it for all of the things I have to grade?”

Fitz laughed even harder, “Sure.”

“Thank you for doing that, they all really appreciated it.”

“Anything for you, Mrs. er Dr. Fitz-Simmons,” he said, mocking the doctor.

Alya walked in to the room and Jemma acted like she remembered something, “Oh Alya, today I bought Anemone’s first onesie, do you want to see it?”

Alya’s face brightened, “Yes!”

“It’s in that shopping bag on the table.”

Alya immediately went and grabbed the white material from the bag, she looked at it for a few moments before she squealed, "I'M GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!"

Fitz chuckled and scooped up Alya, wrapping her in a big hug, pulling Jemma in with them for a family group hug. Everything was just as it should be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S A GIRL!  
> I'm so, so, so excited to dive right back into the world of the Fitz-Simmons fam. Thank you all for sticking with me, it means a lot.  
> If you read "Dear Readers" you would know that I've always struggled with anxiety and it's been really awful the past few months so that's why I haven't been as active.  
> I know in this series I make fun of Fitz a lot for worrying but in my personal head canon they both struggle with anxiety. If you are suffering from depression or anxiety, or really anything else, my tumblr is always open @bookscoffeerainydays  
> Go check out the apology letter and the new fic series. I'll probably be alternating between that and this one for posting schedule, but I'm not posting anything.  
> Thank you so, so, so much for all of the feedback and support, I really appreciate it!!


	25. Tensions Are High In Perthshire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions are high in the Perthshire cottage as Fitz and Jemma navigate and realize that they won't only have just one kid anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go check out my other fic that I've been working on! It takes place during academy era FitzSimmons, but with a slight twist! It's titled "Soulmates Can Be Platonic"!  
> ( But first read this chapter ;)

Christmas came and went quickly for the Fitz-Simmons family, Alya convinced her parents into letting her skip another year, so Fitz and Jemma were now proud parents of a 2nd grader, who still had her weekly play dates with her preschool friends. Jemma was now due any moment, and the cottage in Perthshire was... tense.

Fitz heard Jemma scream, "ALYA MELINDA FITZ-SIMMONS! You come here right now!" 

Fitz winced and then a wisp of blonde hair quickly ran into his the nursery and shut the door, she dramatically stayed against the door and panted heavily. Fitz cracked a smile and picked up Alya. He grunted at her weight, as she was getting older and heavier. Fitz knew that Jemma was a bit testy nowadays, and Alya may not have done something wrong, just gotten on an 8 and a half months pregnant Jemma's nerves. Fitz asked calmly, "Hey Monkey. What did you do?" 

Alya started tearing up, and hiccuping. Finally all she could blubber out was, "Mummy yelled at me!"

Fitz sighed in frustration, "Mummy's just a little tired because of Anemone. Could you use your words please and tell me what you did?"

Alya nodded, "I saw how you drew on mummy's papers, so I wanted to make her students happy!"

Fitz realized what happened, and rubbed his face, "Did you draw pictures on mummy's grading?" Alya pitifully nodded her face. "Wait. Mummy was grading?!" Alya nodded again. 

"Simmons!" He grunted. Fitz put down Alya, you go to your room, just for now, okay? Fitz ushered Alya into her room and shut the nursery door firmly behind him. He walked into the kitchen to see Jemma try to erase crayon from her papers, "Jemma?" 

"Hi Fitz," Jemma said without looking up. 

Fitz put his hands on his hips, "Alya came to find me."

"Of course, cause you will always be the fun parent, and I will always be the mean parent." Jemma sighed in frustration as she threw down the eraser. 

"Oh c'mon, we both know that's not true." Fitz said as he sat across from Jemma and took her hand. "Aren't you supposed to be on maternity leave?"

"Yes but they turned this in the day I left so-"

Fitz cut her off quickly, "So you leave it for the very capable sub to grade."

"I was just going to scan it in," Jemma tried to protest. 

"You know what your doctor said, stress is not good for you or Anemone, so you need to stop working, like we agreed, and trust that your students will be okay."

"But emails-"

Fitz sighed, "Yes you have an hour a day where you can check your email and answer any of your students questions, but no grading. That was the agreement." 

"But I finished grading these-now if I could just get the last of the crayon off." 

"It'll be fine, you can still read everything. It's cute, I'm sure they'll get a chuckle out of it. And I will take these," Fitz stood up and took all he papers from Jemma's hands, "and go out to the lab to scan them in. Alya was really freaked out by you yelling at her."

Jemma slumped down in her chair, "I'm sorry, It's just-"

Fitz kissed her head, "Hey, I know, and I don't blame you. You are amazing," Fitz knelt by her and held her hands, "But she's just a little girl. Our little girl, and she doesn't really understand what's happening. She was just trying to help."

Jemma nodded, "After I go apologize and spend some time with her, and after you scan those in, could you please come up so we explain to her what it's going to be like with a new baby in the mix." 

"Of course." Fitz stood up and helped pull Jemma to her feet.

"Woah," Jemma said, dazed as she leaned against Fitz to steady herself. 

"Jemma? You okay? Are you having contractions? Braxton hicks?" Fitz asked, worry evident all over his face. 

"I'm fine Fitz. Just a little light headed." 

"Okay," Fitz finally decided, even though the worry was still all over his face. He kissed her forehead. 

~~~~~

Jemma lightly knocked on Alya's door, "Alya?" she called as she opened the door to see Alya curled up in her bed, reading a book.

"Mummy, I'm really sorry!" She blurted out as soon as she saw Jemma in the doorway. 

Jemma laughed and sat down on Alya's bed, cuddling with her, "It's okay. I'm sure my students will love your drawings. But let's not do it again, okay?"

"Okay mama." Alya pressed into Jemma's side, and Jemma kissed Alya's head lightly. 

"But really, I should be the one apologizing to you. I shouldn't have raised my voice, it wasn't fair of me. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course!" Jemma let out a grunt, "What is it?"

"Anemone's very happy to be hearing her big sister's voice. Do you want to feel her?" Alya nodded and placed her hand comically gently on to Jemma's swollen belly, "Do you want me to tell you a story?" 

"Yes please!" 

"Any requests?" 

"The one about the two scientists."

Jemma told Alya the story that was told the most in this household. The story of two brave scientists, one a smart, kind, and bossy biochemist, and the other the bravest and most loyalist engineer. Together they were the best of friends, saving the world with one groundbreaking scientific discovery at a time. Sometimes they would get separated, but they always fought to get back to get back to each other, and save the other, no matter the cost. Oh. And somewhere along the way they fell in love.

Fitz had finished all the scans and was lurking in the doorway for the end, smiling at his three girls, all that he loved so much. He decided to intervene once Jemma got to the end of the story, "-And the scientists one day started their own family. Done with saving the world, they settled down and had two little girls, both the greatest and most perfect people they had ever met, that the two scientists couldn't be prouder of. And they all lived happily ever after." He finished as he climbed over Jemma and Alya. He pulled Alya on to his lap and in one swift motion kissed Alya's head and then Jemma's. 

"You're going to have to learn how to do that with three heads pretty soon," Jemma commented. 

Fitz chuckled, "So Alya. I know you're very excited to have a little sister."

Alya nodded, "We're going to be best friends!" 

Jemma and Fitz exchanged glances, "We just wanted you to know, that we'll always love you so much okay?" Jemma said.

"I love you too!" Alya exclaimed. 

"But a newborn is a lot of work and we may have our hands full with Anemone, and we won't have much one on one time with you. But that doesn't mean we love anyone more or less, she's just a baby, so she can't do much for herself." Jemma explained 

"Monkey, we'll set apart some special Mummy/Alya time and Daddy/Alya time each day okay? But Nana is going to be up here a lot to keep you company when we can't. And then Aunt Daisy and Uncle Sousa will come up. I think Grandma and Grandpa have a slot at some point. Just know that you won't be alone, this house is going to be busy."

"Alright." Alya said, taking time to process everything, but her eyes were starting to get droopy. 

"Goodnight Monkey," Fitz said, kissing her head and ruffling her hair. 

"Love you. Sweet dreams," Jemma called out as they headed out. 

Once the door was closed Jemma whispered, "That went well? Don't you think that went well?" 

"I think our 5 year old understood it the best she could."

~~~~~  
  


"Fitz?" 

"Mmh, Jemma?"

It was late at night and Jemma and Fitz were both in bed, one more awake than the other, "We have no idea what we're going to name this baby. And at this point, she could come any day!"

"We'll figure it out. But maybe when it's actually sane for someone to be awake?"

"Fitz?"

"Mmh?"

"Are you ready for all the late nights, and screaming, and awful sleep schedule, and all of that?"

"No. I won't ever be ready."

"But I'm excited to raise another baby with you. To have a new little girl to hold and cuddle and tell stories to. One that doesn't have to live 3 years in space."

"Sometimes I miss it though," Jemma admitted. "You, me, Alya, space, Enoch."

"I miss Enoch too. I don't know if I miss the rest of the stuff quite yet though," Fitz mumbled. "Goodnight Jemma. Love you."

"Love you too."

~~~~~

It was the next morning and Fitz was out dropping off Alya at school. Jemma was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast when she heard the doorbell ring. 

Jemma was a bit confused as she wasn't expecting anyone, but she opened the door anyways, "Hunter?"

"Simmons!" Hunter stopped and slowly registered the almost full term baby bump that Jemma was showing. "You're, you're, you're pregnant?"

"Yes I am Hunter," Jemma couldn't help but laugh at the face that Hunter was making. 

Hunter put down the 6 pack bottle of beer and immediately hugged her, "Congratulations! Where's Fitz and Little Ms. Fitz-Simmons?"

"Fitz is dropping Alya off at school, you're welcome to come in!"

After Jemma made both of them a cup of tea, they sat down at the breakfast nook and had a conversation, "So," Jemma started as politely as she could, "Where've you been? Fitz has been trying to get in contact with you for the past 7 months! He said he was putting a secret code you two had in some football magazine?"

"Um yah, I've been in places where I didn't really have access to those." They both sipped their tea quietly, "7 months eh?"

"Fitz really wanted to tell you in person." Jemma and Hunter smiled at each other. 

A few moments Jemma gave a look of discomfort, "Are you okay?" Hunter asked, unsure of what to do with a pregnant woman.

"I'm fine. I keep having these Braxton hicks. I'll be fine though." Jemma realized her cup of tea was empty so she stood up to clean it up. Soon after she felt fluid rush out of her. "Never mind," she deadpanned. "I'm in labor."

Hunter's eyes widened. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff hangerrrrr!  
> HUNTER'S BACK!!!!  
> Thank you so much for reading, it makes my day that you took the time to read my work!  
> Once again, be sure to check out my other series "Soulmates Can Be Platonic" I'm super excited about it.  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day!


	26. Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma's in labor. Fitz is no where to be found. Hunter, the most responsible one in all of the shield team is the only near. Will Fitz make it to the birth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I was going to stick to my every other day posting schedule... but after yesterday's cliffhanger, I couldn't just leave you all hanging!  
> Much thanks to my lovely beta @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments.  
> So without further ado, I give you the chaos of Jemma in labor with only Hunter around!

It was the next morning and Fitz was out dropping off Alya at school. Jemma was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast when she heard the doorbell ring. 

Jemma was a bit confused as she wasn't expecting anyone, but she opened the door anyways, "Hunter?"

"Simmons!" Hunter stopped and slowly registered the almost full term baby bump that Jemma was showing. "You're, you're, you're pregnant?"

"Yes I am Hunter," Jemma couldn't help but laugh at the face that Hunter was making. 

Hunter put down the 6 pack bottle of beer and immediately hugged her, "Congratulations! Where's Fitz and Little Miss. Fitz-Simmons?"

"Fitz is dropping Alya off at school, you're welcome to come in!"

After Jemma made both of them a cup of tea, they sat down at the breakfast nook and had a conversation, "So," Jemma started as politely as she could, "Where've you been? Fitz has been trying to get in contact with you for the past 7 months! He said he was putting a secret code you two had in some football magazine?"

"Um yah, I've been in places where I didn't really have access to those." They both sipped their tea quietly, "7 months eh?"

"Fitz really wanted to tell you in person." Jemma and Hunter smiled at each other. 

A few moments later Jemma gave a look of discomfort, "Are you okay?" Hunter asked, unsure of what to do with a pregnant woman.

"I'm fine. I keep having these Braxton hicks. I'll be fine though." Jemma realized her cup of tea was empty so she stood up to clean it up. Soon after she felt fluid rush out of her. "Never mind," she deadpanned. "I'm in labor."

Hunter's eyes widened, "Shit."

"I'll be fine, " Jemma decided. 

"But, but, you're in labor? Shouldn’t we be going to the hospital? And damn it where’s your husband?!”

“Fitz will be back in 20 minutes or so, no use worrying him before he needs to be. I have contractions every 15 minutes for 30 seconds, so I’m just going to sit down.”

“What do you need me to do?” 

“There’s a bag already packed in Fitz and I’s room. It's blue and has tiny microscopes on it!” She called up to Hunter who had already dashed up the stairs. 

“Course it does!” Hunter called down to her. 

Jemma chuckled and shifted on the couch to try and get more comfortable. Jemma took a few deep breaths, trying not to think that she was in labor, and the only person with her was… Lance Hunter, ex-mercenary and all. Or maybe current mercenary? Who knows with him. Jemma dialed Linda, Fitz’s mum, “Hello Linda.”

“Jemma! How are you? How’s Anemone?”

“I’d say she’s doing pretty well, as I’m in labor.”

“Oh! Jemma! Is Fitz freaking out?” 

Jemma smiled into the phone, “He doesn’t actually know yet. Could you come down and pick up Alya once she gets off school? No need to take her out earlier. Maybe come to the hospital once she’s finished with school depending on if it’s over or not.”

“Absolutely. I’ll leave in 10 minutes.”

“Thank you so much Linda.”

“Of course Jemma, you’ll do great.” Jemma smiled and hung up. 

Hunter came bouncing down the stairs with the hospital bag, “Got it!” 

“Good job Hunter,” Jemma said sarcastically. She snapped a picture and sent it to Daisy, captioning it: _‘You better get here soon, I’m in labor and the only person here is Hunter’_ Daisy wasn’t coming to earth for a few days, where her and her whole team got quite a lengthy amount of time off.

“Hey! You won’t let me drive you to the hospital, this is the best I can do!” There was a moment of pause then Hunter spoke up again, “Um… Do you want…” Hunter struggled with the word he was looking for, “tea?”

Jemma rolled her eyes, “Thank you, but I’m alright.” Her phone buzzed, it was a text from Daisy, _‘I’m missing the birth of little Anemone? How dare she!?!? Also good luck, you got this!! Fuck, Hunter better not screw up.’_

_'Fitz better get there fast’ Daisy texted again a few seconds later._

~~~~~~

Fitz was on his way back from dropping Alya off, daydreaming when his phone dinged, he checked it to see who it was, it was Daisy, ‘ _On a scale from 1-10 how freaked are you right now?’_

Fitz made a confused face and quickly used voice to text to respond back, ‘ _What do you mean?’_

Daisy responded back a few seconds later, _‘Jemma in labor? Only Hunter anywhere near her?’_

Fitz nearly spun out, he didn’t bother texting Daisy back and immediately called Jemma, “Hey Simmons, I’m 10ish minutes out, everything okay?”

“Yep! I just finished cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast and now I’m on the couch.”

“Then how come I just got a very concerning text from Daisy, something about you in labor and that Hunter is with you?” Fitz shook his head, hoping it was just Daisy messing with him.

Jemma sighed, “My water broke a few minutes ago.”

“AND YOU WEREN’T GOING TO TELL ME?!”

“I knew you’d act like this! Clearly I had good reason not to tell you!”

“Oh yeah. You weren't going to tell your husband, the one who impregnated you with this child, the one you will raise this child with, that you are in labor!”

Fitz heard a distance voice come through Jemma’s side, “Is that Fitz?”

“Hunter?!”

“Hunter’s here, but we won’t leave until you get here. I’ve already called your mum and she’s on her way to take care of Alya.” Jemma sounded exhausted. 

“Jemma, are you okay?”

“Just get here soon, okay?” 

“I’m almost there. Are you in pain?”

“Fitz. I am about to push a child out of my body, of course I am in pain.” 

Fitz stifled a chuckle, “I’m going to stay on this call until I can hold you in my arms alright?” 

“That’d be nice.” 

“So, we should probably talk about baby names now, shouldn’t we?” Fitz tried cracking a joke, hoping it would distract Jemma. He heard Jemma’s laugh that he loved so much. 

“We’ll think of something.” 

“So Hunter’s there huh?” 

“Yah he showed up. And then my water broke. And then he was very helpful and got the go bag and then offered me tea, although I’m pretty sure he almost offered me a beer.”

Fitz laughed as he heard the protesting of Hunter saying that he didn’t do that. He suddenly stopped when he heard Jemma grunting in pain though, “Jemma?” 

“Just another contraction.” He could tell she was gritting her teeth.

“Hey, hey I’m almost there okay? Just don’t give birth with only Hunter there please.”

“I think we’ve got a few hours until she comes.” 

“Okay, I’m pulling into the driveway, start coming out.” 

As soon as Fitz pulled up to the front of their house, he left the car running, and ran to Jemma, “I love you so much, you are so brave.” He whispered in her ear. 

“I’m really feeling like the third wheel here, but shouldn’t we get to the hospital at some point?” Hunter butt in, Fitz scowled at Hunter and kissed Jemma extra slowly, much to Hunter’s disgust.

Fitz had never driven faster in his life, and in 20 minutes was already at the hospital. “Fitz, we are surely getting a ticket after that.” 

“It’ll be fine.” Hunter said. “Just get Mack to take care of it, that’s what I do.” 

“So, you treat Mack as your janitor?” Fitz asked.

~~~~~

“My wife’s in labor!” Fitz yelled to whoever would listen when they got to the hospital, Jemma sighed and rolled her eyes. 

A nice nurse came over and calmed him down and soon enough Fitz and Jemma were checked into their room. 

“But where do I go?” Hunter asked. 

“Stay in the waiting room and take my phone and send a text to the team group chat, tell them everything. Text Jemma’s phone if there’s any updates that aren’t also addressed to Jemma or if anyone shows up in the waiting room or something.” Fitz quickly spoke as he slipped Hunter his phone and followed Jemma being wheeled up to her room. 

~~~~~

Jemma was in labor for 21 hours, Fitz never left her side once. When the nurses told Jemma that it was the final push and to push as hard as she could, both of them were relieved when they finally heard the heartbreaking and amazing sound of their little girl screaming. 

Jemma was exhausted, but when Anemone was placed on her chest, she wept for joy, “Hello,” she whispered, “Well aren’t you just perfect?” 

Fitz was looking on with tears in his eyes. When Anemone was placed in his arms he whispered, “Hey. I’m your daddy, I’m so, so happy you’re here. I love you so much already.” Fitz looked up at the window and noticed that the sun was just beginning to rize, “Look Jemma,” he whispered. Fitz gently sat on the hospital bed and she leaned into him, holding their daughter’s hand. 

“Let’s just watch the sunrise.” She said to him, both of them smiling, remembering when their relationship was a mess, but when they watched the sunrise together, everything was perfect, it was the first time they had discussed their dreams of Perthsire.

~~~~~

The first visitor they let in to meet the new addition to the Fitz-Simmons family was Hunter, it seemed fitting as he was a champ, running errands for them, getting them food, communicating with their family, and it was too early in the morning for Alya to come down. 

Hunter came in and smiled at the family looking lovingly at each other, he took a quick picture and sent it to all the people that he needed to update. “Knock, knock,” he said. 

“Hey Hunter,” Fitz said.

“She’s beautiful, really. Congratulations guys,” Hunter said sincerely. 

“Isn’t she?” Jemma whispered, cooing at her daughter, tracing her finger over her cheeks. 

“Thank you Hunter, for everything,” Fitz told him. 

“Oh, it was nothing, don’t worry about it.” Hunter cleared his throat, and shifted from side to side, “So I’m assuming you won’t keep calling her Anemone. Have you come up with a name yet?”

Fitz scratched his scruff, “I don’t know… Anemone’s growing on me.” Jemma elbowed Fitz gently, “Okay, but at least for a nickname.”

“The sunrise has always been such an important thing in our relationship, and she was born right when the sunrise began.”

“And keeping with the sky/space/star theme,” Fiz added. 

“We’re thinking of Aurora, Rory for short.”

“Which has absolutely nothing to do with our shared love of Doctor Who,” Fitz added. 

Hunter smiled, “Aurora Fitz-Simmons, I like it.” 

“Our little Aurora Phillipa Fitz-Simmons,” Fitz said, looking lovingly at her. “I can’t wait for you to meet your family.” 

  
~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwww Aurora Phillipa Fitz-Simmons welcome to the fic!  
> Credits for the idea of Aurora and for short Rory goes to @shield2409 ! Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I loved them all but in the end, I loved the whole sunrise thing and the nod to Doctor Who and decided to go with that. Also Phillipa after Grandpa Coulson obviously.  
> Once again thanks to @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now!  
> Also if you haven't read my other fic series with Fitzsimmons titled "Soulmates Can Be Platonic" I recommend going and checking that out!  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day!


	27. Alya and Aurora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons meets her younger sister Aurora Phillipa Fitz-Simmons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans out there! Although the original meaning for this holiday is questionable, the modern interpretation is something I think we should implement into everyday. So, this thanksgiving, I am thankful for all of you lovely people! Thank you for sticking with this fic account, even when I wasn't the most active.  
> Another human who I am super thankful for is my wonderful beta, @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments!!!

Aurora Phillipa Fitz-Simmons weighed in at 7.6 pounds, and she had thick tufts of light brown hair. Aurora sported hazel eyes, and clearly was going to have a head full of curls like her dad when she got older.

Fitz and Jemma’s phones were both blowing up with congratulation messages, but their phones stayed firmly on the table next to them as they were both too busy holding their new baby tight. 

“How you feeling, Jemma?” Fitz asked. Jemma’s head was on his shoulder, having just finished breastfeeding Rory, who was now nestled safely in her daddy’s arms. 

“Mmm tired.” Jemma murmured. “But so thankful, and so happy.” 

“How was this birth compared to last time?” 

“Well this one lasted a lot longer, but I am grateful to be with people who know what they’re doing and medical equipment. Enoch was wonderful, but he didn’t really have a great bedside manner.” She joked and nestled further into him.

Fitz chuckled and tickled Rory’s neck, “I miss that guy.”

“Me too.” Jemma sighed. They both went back to staring at the little girl they had brought into the world. 

Fitz kissed Jemma’s head and looked at his watch, “My mum’s gonna bring Alya over soon. You ready to be a family of four?” 

“Absolutely.” She smiled and kissed him sweetly before going back to cuddling their baby.

~~~~~

Mrs. Fitz and Alya had made it to the hospital and Mrs. Fitz was laughing at how impatient Alya was. She had known her mother was giving birth to her little sister since she had gotten off of school yesterday, and now she was off school again, and was itching to see her sister. “Alya dear, did you get any school work done today?” Mrs. Fitz asked.

“I’ll be fine.” Alya started jumping up and down and tugging on her Nana’s sleeve, “Can we go in now please?!” 

Mrs. Fitz looked up to the nurse at the reception desk in confirmation. “They are in room 203, go right ahead.” The nurse said.

Linda smiled at the nurse gratefully. “Thank you.” As they walked hand in hand to the elevator Linda asked, “Do you remember your little sister’s name?”

“Nana! Of course I do! It’s Rory! Just like Amy and Rory!” Alya exclaimed.

Linda shook her head. “You are just like your parents. Going on about Doctor Who and chemical formulas, and going round me in circles.”

The two of them approached the door. “Are you ready to be a big sister Alya?” Linda squeezed her hand.

“Absolutely!” Alya replied right away. Alya opened the door to see her parents laughing over something facing away from her, “Mummy! Daddy!” she cried. She hadn’t seen them for over a day, the longest she’d gone without seeing either of them. 

Jemma turned around and her face lit up, “Alya, darling!” She squatted down as Alya ran into her arms, Jemma squeezed her tight, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too Mum,.” Alya was clearly itching to see her little sister. 

Fitz turned around from finishing changing Rory’s diaper, “Hey monkey. Do you want to meet Aurora?” Alya nodded, and Fitz chuckled, “Go sit down on that couch and you can hold her.” 

Alya scrambled over to the couch and sat down with Jemma next to her. Fitz came over and gently placed her in Alya’s small arms. “You got her head?” 

Alya nodded and sucked in her breath, as if she was afraid she’d break the fragile baby in her arms. “Do you want to talk to her?” Jemma asked, stabilizing Rory as Alya was still a bit small..

“What do I say?”

“Anything! Tell her who you are, say hello. Give her advice on what it’s like growing up in a house with us as parents.” Fitz joked. 

“Alright. Um hello, I’m Alya Melinda Fitz-Simmons, and I’m your big sister. It’s nice to meet you Aurora. I always wanted a little sister, and I think you're the perfect one.” Alya cooed as Rory stared up at her with big hazel eyes.

“And you’re a perfect big sister.” Jemma added on. 

Fitz looked up at his mother. “Mum, thank you so much for helping. We can’t ever repay you for helping us out. Without you we’d have to have Hunter babysit Alya for us.” 

“Alya would be babysitting Hunter,” Jemma added. 

“Oh it was no trouble Leo. I had fun with my favorite eldest granddaughter. But I do know a way you could repay me, by letting me hold my youngest granddaughter.” Linda beamed.

~~~~~~

The next day when Fitz, Jemma, and Aurora came home, Coulson, May, Hunter, Linda, and of course Alya were all waiting. It was a busy day full of laughter, tears, and screams. (The latter two mostly from Aurora). Coulson was touched to hear that Rory’s middle name was Phillipa and everyone took turns between playing with Alya and holding Aurora. Fitz and Jemma were so thankful for their family and for everyone’s help but couldn’t wait for it just to be their little family that had just grown to be a little bit bigger. 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this was a shorter chapter! Today was a busy day, and I still wanted to get something out. Plus I wanted a filler chapter before we get to the chaos that is a newborn baby!  
> Once again thanks to @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now!  
> NEW DAILY SERIES TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE:  
> I'm doing a 25 day prompt series all with Christmas themes and different ships, not just Fitzsimmons! It starts December 1st and will go through Christmas Day. It's called 25 Days of Ficlet Christmas! Go follow my tumblr to request ships and get updates @bookscoffeerain (if you're a creator you can message me and I'll send you the prompt list if you want!)  
> Also if you haven't read my other fic series with Fitzsimmons titled "Soulmates Can Be Platonic" I recommend going and checking that out!  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day, and stay safe!


	28. Sleep Deprived Fitz-Simmons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitz-Simmons have been a family for a week now, and this is their first time alone, just the four of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovely Nerdy Humans!  
> This chapter is once again bettaed by my wonderful beta, @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments.

The next week was crazy. Fitz and Jemma were remembering how insane it was having a newborn, plus their home was constantly having people in and out, whether it was Jemma’s parents, Fitz’s mum, Daisy and Sousa, Hunter and Bobbi, Coulson and May, or Mack and Elena, it hadn’t been just the four of them ever, since Aurora was born.

It was late in the night and everyone had left earlier that day, and Jemma was in the nursery on her rocking chair, feeding Rory, and cherishing the silence. Fitz watched from the doorway, and smiled softly at Jemma being a mum. He loved her so much that words didn’t quite encompas how he felt about her, but his children, Aurora and Alya, he loved even more, and he loved watching Jemma care for them. 

“You’re a hungry girl aren’t you?” Jemma cooed. 

“Just like her dad,” Fitz grinned.

Jemma looked up and smiled at the curly haired, sleepy man in front of her, “I love you,” she blurted out softly.

“I’m glad to know that you love me even when I look like a wreck.” He took a few steps towards her.

“You don’t look like a wreck,” Jemma chided. 

Fitz sat on the floor next to Jemma and leaned against the chair. Jemma put her hand down and he gently took it and kissed her finger tips, “I love you too.”

Rory made some noises, “Oh, are you done? I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize,” Jemma said in a baby voice to Rory. 

Fitz stood up and put his arms out, “May I?”

“Of course.” She handed their child to his outstretched arms.

Fitz took Aurora and started bouncing her. “Hey Anemone,”

“So we’re sticking with that are we?” Jemma chuckled. 

“Shh,” Fitz said to Jemma, not to Rory. Fitz cleared his throat as he bounced Rory around the room, 

“Lies low the sun and shadows tall

Across the fields are creepin

And soon the big roond yella moon

Will ower the brae come peepin

Haste ye noo, lay by your barrow,

Daddy'll mend the broken wheel the morrow

Come ye in and get ye bedded doon,

It's time me girl wis sleepin.

Come put ye on your wee white goon

Afore the peat fire cheery,

We'll gang the morn intae the toon 

For sweeties for my dearie

Hush ye noo and stop your sighin

Or Wee Willie Winkie'll come a-pryin

Snug ye doon, me girl, and sleep ye soond

For Mammy's sittin near ye.

She's played a day wi golden sand,

And weary is my aneome

Her curly head is noddin',

and she's greetin for her Daddy.

Wheesht ye noo, my brave wee fella,

Tears'll weet your cosy cosy pillow

Close your eyes while Dada sings to ye,

My sleepy peedie Anemone.

O softly, softly, ane and a’,

And gentle wi your speakin

She's turned his wee face tae the wa

And ceased her plaintive weepin

Dream ye sweet, my bonny fella,

Eyes so blue and hair sae yella yella

Hush noo, lightly let your footsteps fa,

For my wee Anemone's sleepin”

Once Fitz made it to the end of the song, Rory was already fast asleep. Fitz kissed her forehead, and gently laid her down in her crib. Jemma wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his shoulder, “You're such a good dad.”

Fitz kissed her head, “You’re a good mum.”

“I missed hearing you sing that song,” Jemma admitted, her eyes drooping.

Fitz chuckled and turned around so he was facing her, “Let’s get you to bed Jemma.”

Once they got to their bedroom, Jemma immediately crashed on their bed, her being the only one who could feed Aurora had clearly taken a toll on her. Fitz smiled at his wife and crawled into bed with her. He wrapped the bankets around her, and Jemma turned over so her head was on his chest. Fitz kissed her head and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, “I love you.”

The only response he got was Jemma’s deep breathing, signifying she had fallen asleep. Fitz softly chuckled and joined her in a deep sleep. 

~~~~~

Fitz heard screaming, he shut his eyes tightly, hoping that if he ignored it, it would just go away. He felt Jemma’s body lift from laying on him and went to the door, Fitz groaned, “Stay.”

“She’s hungry Fitz!” Jemma protested, stumbling on her way to the nursery in the dark. 

Fitz grabbed Jemma’s pillow and shoved it against his face, hoping to drown out the screaming. 

“Dada?”

Fitz put the pillow next to him and opened his eyes, squinting at the small figure in his doorway, “Alya, what are you doing up? Go back to bed, Monkey,” he mumbled. 

“Rory woke me up,” Alya said, annoyed. Her little arms were crossed and Mr. Monkey was with her. 

“Welcome to the club,” Fitz said, patting the space next to him, “C’mon to bed.” Alya instantly broke into a smile and jumped up on to the bed, “You can sleep here only tonight, and only if you promise to go right to bed,” Fitz warned. Although it didn’t sound like much of a threat as he was still barely awake. 

“Promise!” Alya screamed way too loud for 3 in the morning. 

“Shhhh,” Fitz mumbled as he pulled Alya into him and tucked her into the covers. 

30 minutes later and both Fitz and Alya were sound asleep, both of them enjoying the other's body warmth, lulling them to sleep quickly. “FITZ!” 

Fitz and Alya’s peaceful sleep was interrupted by the baby screaming again and Jemma yelling Fitz’s name. Fitz groggily got out of bed, and had enough sense to say, “Stay here Alya.” 

Fitz made his way into the nursery to see Jemma trying to shush Aurora, “Fitz!” she said relieved. “I fed her, but she’s not going to sleep. Please, please, sing for her,” Jemma pleaded. 

Fitz looked at the love of his life, begging with bags under her eyes and days old clothes. The corner of Fitz’s mouth perked up, “Of course.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and said, “Go to bed, I’ll take it from here.”

Jemma smiled at him wearily, “Okay.”

Fitz took Rory and smiled at her, “Hey bud. I know you just have the worst life right now.” Fitz chuckled to himself at his joke. “Do you want to hear a song?” 

Rory didn’t stop screaming, “I’ll take that as a yes.” So, Fitz sang the now Anemone song (instead of the monkey song) for the third time that night, and it worked like a charm. She was fast asleep. Fitz smiled at his youngest daughter and put her back in the crib, “Have some sweet dreams for me? Okay?” He whispered as he walked out and went back to bed, to see Alya start screaming. 

Fitz rushed to her side, Jemma quickly sat up and asked what was wrong. But Alya just kept screaming. 

“Use your words sweetie,” Jemma said, worry on her face, trying to calm down Alya. But Alya kept screaming. 

“Should I try the song on her?” Fitz joked as a defense mechanism, 

Jemma glared at him but then exhaled and said, “It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Fitz gave her a weird look but then sang to their 6 year old who still hadn’t stopped screaming her monkey song, and Alya immediately calmed down, wrapped in Fitz’s arms with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Once Fitz finished he asked Alya, “Were you jealous because I sang your song to Aurora?”

Alya wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded meekly. Fitz sighed, “You know I love you so much right? But you have to learn to share things with your sister, including us, and including the song.”

Jemma spoke up, “How about this; you get a special half hour every day to be with me and a special half hour every day to be with your dad. Would you like that?”

“I would,” Alya nodded. 

“We’ll talk about this more in the morning,” Fitz yawned, “I’m tired.” 

The three of them went to bed immediately, all of them tangled in each other’s arms and legs, grateful for their crazy but simple life. 

Slowly, over time, life got easier as the four learned to adjust to their new life, Alya had her special time with her mummy, her special time with her daddy, her special time with both of them, and her special time with Rory, where she would pick out her favorite book and read it to her. It was mostly Spots of Light. 

The sister born in the stars would read to the sister born under the sun. 

  
~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alya's a little only child brat, but we love her anyways.   
> IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: For a future fic I'm writing a character on the Autism spectrum. Of course I'm doing research but I would love personal experience and thoughts, especially if it's from my own readers, so if you are on the spectrum, I would really appreciate it if you could fill it out. It will all be anonymous of course 💗 https://forms.gle/Si9byuZAT3xYeQ1c6  
> Once again thanks to @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now! She has a current fic going on titled "MAVETH", it's really good go read it!!  
> NEW DAILY SERIES TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE:  
> I'm doing a 25 day prompt series all with Christmas themes and different ships, not just Fitzsimmons! It starts December 1st and will go through Christmas Day. It's called 25 Days of Ficlet Christmas! Go follow my tumblr to request ships and get updates @bookscoffeerain (if you're a creator you can message me and I'll send you the prompt list if you want!)  
> Also if you haven't read my other fic series with Fitzsimmons titled "Soulmates Can Be Platonic" I recommend going and checking that out!  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day, and stay safe!


	29. 20th Friendaversary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz and Jemma have been friends for 20 years, how will they celebrate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello fellow Nerdy Humans!!  
> This prompt was suggested by the lovely @agentemaria4722 a longgggg time ago, sorry it took so long but I wanted to get it sort of in the right timeline, and it was a pleasure to write it!  
> This chapter is once again bettaed by my wonderful beta, @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments.

Aurora Phillipa Fitz-Simmons had been in the world for a month and the Fitz-Simmons’ had adjusted well to being a family of four. It didn’t come without its challenges of course, but they were working through them. 

Fitz was playing scientist with Alya in the kitchen when he heard Jemma yell,“Fitz!” It was clearly something unimportant, there was no terror in her voice. 

“Simmons!” he yelled back, Fitz tickled Alya as he waited for a response.

“Did you know that our 20th anniversary of being best friends is tomorrow?” Jemma asked, coming down the stairs with Rory perched on her hip. 

Fitz let go of Alya and went over to Jemma and suavely kissed her. He took Rory from her and cooed at her. 

Jemma rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hip, “You forgot, didn’t you?” 

Fitz shrugged, “You did too until 30 seconds ago.” Fitz went back to ticking Rory’s stomach. 

“We should do something, shouldn’t we?” Jemma persisted.

“I don’t know, my mum’s out of town with her boyfriend,” Fitz rolled his eyes at that last word. Jemma pursed her lips to try and keep from laughing, Fitz was over protective of his mum, and although he wanted her to be happy and begrudgingly admitted that John was a good guy, he still didn’t think any guy was good enough for her, which was very sweet. Fitz looked at Alya, “Besides I’d rather spend the 20th anniversary of us becoming friends with what came because of it.” Fitz swooped in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Oh.” Jemma was disappointed, but she understood, all of their usual babysitters were too far away to come at a moment's notice. “That sounds fun.” Jemma loved her children with all her heart, but she’d barely been away since Aurora was born and that was a lot. 

Fitz nodded and went back to Alya, “Did you know that tomorrow Mummy and I became friends 20 years ago?” 

Alya looked up at the two of them with big, bright, blue eyes, “20 years?! Wow you two are old.” 

Jemma and Fitz laughed, “Thanks sweetie,” Jemma brushed the hair from Alya’s face, “What do you want to do?” 

~~~~~

Jemma woke up the next morning, not to the sound of crying. She rolled over and checked the time. She had slept into 7:30, Jemma couldn’t remember the last time she had slept that late, which was quite a sad fact. 

Jemma quickly became worried, why hadn’t Aurora or Alya woken her up? Where was Fitz? Jemma was about to run out to look for them, when on the bedside table she saw an envelope addressed to her in Fitz’s handwriting. 

She tore it open and read it quickly, 

_ Simmons,  _

_ Don’t worry. I let you sleep and took the last few feeding sessions for Rory. Just relax, everyone’s fine. You know, when I was paired up with you for that lab all those years ago, (20 to be exact), I never expected this. I just thought you were a pretty girl that was the only one at that place my age. I always thought we would be friends, except for the minor fact that I thought you hated me, and I was terribly awkward and awful at speaking to girls. I had never dreamed much past that. Just two friends who would work together in labs. But you have become so much more to me. It’s hard to put in words how much you mean to me. _

_ First you were an acquaintance/rival, then we were friends, and quickly best friends followed, then a lot of awful things happened but somehow we survived it all and came out on top. Together. Dating. _

_ Then we got married, we had a little girl and another one. You know me better than any other person in the universe. The best word I can come up with to describe what you are to me is soulmate, (it’s cheesy, I know), but it’s genuinely the only thing I can think of.  _

_ Love you Jemma, come on down for some breakfast. _

_ Oh and Happy 20 years of being my best friend/soulmate.  _

_ -Yours for always and forever,  _

_ Fitz.  _

Jemma wiped a tear from her eye. Jemma ran down the stairs to the kitchen and threw herself into Fitz’s arms.

“I love you so much,” she whispered into his neck.

Fitz chuckled and held her, “Good morning to you too.” 

“You didn’t really forget did you?” Jemma wiped tears from her eyes.

Fitz laughed, “Had it planned for 3 weeks.”

“There’s more?!” Jemma asked incredulously. 

“We need a break, you’ve been Super Mum for the past month, it’s time for you to breathe.” Fitz said, kissing her.

“But your mum…?” 

“Wow that was adorable, I just want to say I called it like as soon as I met you two.” Jemma whipped her head around to see Daisy holding Alya with Sousa behind her holding Rory. 

“Daisy?!” 

Daisy smiled, “Took you long enough to notice us.” 

“Have you all been in on this?” Jemma asked. 

Everyone nodded, including Alya, “Where did she learn to be able to lie!?” Jemma asked loudly.

Fitz rubbed Jemma’s shoulder, “You’ve just lost your detection skills, I was sure she was going to give it up so many times”

“Now go get dressed! We are your professional babysitters!” Daisy shooed. 

“You’re going to babysit a 6 year old, who is smarter than you, and a 1 month old?!” 

“Relax Simmons, Fitz already has sent over thousands of to-do lists, instructional videos, and emergency contact information.”

Fitz whispered in her ear, “The farthest away we’ll be is 20 minutes if anything were to happen.” Fitz spoke up loudly, “Besides she has Sousa. If not Daisy, I have complete confidence in Sousa.” 

Sousa laughed and Daisy started protesting while Fitz made Jemma go upstairs. 

~~~~~

Fitz and Jemma were in the car, “So where are we going?” 

Fitz’s blue eyes twinkled. “Anywhere and everywhere… within a 20 minute radius.” he added. 

Jemma put her hand to his cheek as he was driving, he leaned into it without taking his eyes off of the road, “Thank you for this Fitz.”

“It’s something to celebrate. I know when we first started dating or even our wedding-even though that one’s a bit iffy, should be something that we should celebrate more. But this just is where it all started. When I first fell in love with our relationship, where everything became possible. We were friends for so much longer than we have been romantically involved, and it just felt right.”

Jemma sniffed happily, “It’s perfect.”

Fitz smiled, “I know Alya has been looking forward to Aunt Daisy and Uncle Daniel time for awhile, but it’s okay to not be comfortable with them watching our girls.”

“It’ll be fine, I just hope the house is still standing when we’re back.” They both chuckled. 

~~~~~

Fitz and Jemma stayed out all day and well into the night, (for a couple who had a one month old waiting at home, it was more like six) they came in laughing and giggling like newlyweds, but quickly quieted down, when they saw Daisy and Alya curled up on the couch, sleeping as a movie played on in the background. 

Daisy was leaned up against Sousa who was holding a sleeping Aurora. He smiled sleepily, waving. Fitz and Jemma chuckled lightly as Fitz went and took Alya, who sleepily wrapped her arms around his neck, and walked her upstairs. Jemma took Rory and mouthed a thank you, before she turned to put her in her crib. 

Sousa nodded sleepily and put his head on Daisy’s head, settling in, to join her in sleep. 

Jemma made her way up the stairs and paused outside Alya’s open door, Fitz was gently setting her down on her bed. He tucked her in, and smoothed her hair out, he tucked the blankets around her and made sure Mr. Monkey was firmly in her grasp. He kissed her head and whispered, “Have some good dreams for me, Monkey. Love you.” Fitz smiled when he spotted Jemma lingering in the hallway, bouncing Aurora. 

“What are you doing?” He asked once he closed Alya’s door. 

“Just thinking of how much life has changed for us in the past 20 years.”

“For the better?” It wasn’t a real question, they both know the answer, but it felt like the right thing to ask. 

Jemma rolled her eyes, “Absolutely.”

“I love you.” Fitz whispered, kissing her. 

“Love you too.” 

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to @agentemaria4722 ! Feel free to give me prompts and suggestions as well!  
> IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: For a future fic I'm writing a character on the Autism spectrum. Of course I'm doing research but I would love personal experience and thoughts, especially if it's from my own readers, so if you are on the spectrum, I would really appreciate it if you could fill it out. It will all be anonymous of course 💗 https://forms.gle/Si9byuZAT3xYeQ1c6  
> Once again thanks to @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now! S  
> NEW DAILY SERIES TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE:  
> I'm doing a 25 day prompt series all with Christmas themes and different ships, not just Fitzsimmons! It starts December 1st and will go through Christmas Day. It's called 25 Days of Ficlet Christmas! Go follow my tumblr to request ships and get updates @bookscoffeerain (if you're a creator you can message me and I'll send you the prompt list if you want!)  
> Also if you haven't read my other fic series with Fitzsimmons titled "Soulmates Can Be Platonic" I recommend going and checking that out!  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day, and stay safe!


	30. Stay at Home Dad Extraordinaire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma's maternity leave is up, how will the family react?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is once again bettaed by my wonderful beta, @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments!  
> Sorry I missed yesterday's post! I'm working on something bigggg....

“Jemma?” Fitz knocked on Aurora’s door, Jemma had disappeared in there a half hour ago when Aurora had started crying. And Rory was now at the age where they were supposed to let her cry out. Jemma apparently had let tonight be an exception. 

Rory had stopped crying long ago, and Fitz was worried. 

He heard Jemma breathe in deeply, “Come in,” her voice broke at the end. 

Jemma was in the rocking chair, holding Aurora tight, “Are you o-” his voice trailed off when he saw tears streaming down her face, “No you’re not.” Fitz answered his own question and rushed to Jemma’s side. He rubbed her shoulders, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s silly,” Jemma sniffed out. 

“I promise you it’s not.” Fitz said, staring into her eyes. 

“I know I’ve had 6 months of maternity leave, and that’s a lot, but I just… I can’t believe that tomorrow I go to work, and leave you three here. It’s just with Alya I never had to leave her… not until she was three.”

Fitz was ashamed he hadn’t realized this sooner, of course she was upset, “Hey, you have every right to be sad. You don’t have to go back to work.” 

Jemma laughed, “I miss my students. I love grading their papers, I love you drawing monkeys on their papers. I love helping them when they don’t understand something. I really love teaching.”

Fitz smiled and brushed off the tears trailing down Jemma’s cheek, “I know you do. I want you to do this, be Professor Fitz-Simmons again. And I know it will be hard, and I don’t want you to do it if you don’t think you’re ready.”

Fitz and Jemma stayed in their awkward position in silence for a few long moments, “I’m ready,” Jemma decided. “It will be hard, but I can do it.”

“My wife can do anything she puts her mind to,” Fitz agreed. “Why don’t we put down Rory and go head to bed,” he said gently, squeezing her hand. “You need a lot of rest before your first day back.”

Jemma lifted Rory up to his arms and he took her, putting her in the crib, Jemma came around behind Fitz. Fitz put his arm around her waist and shifted her next to him, kissing the top of her head. 

“You need a lot of rest before your first full day with just you and Rory,” Jemma pointed out. 

Fitz scoffed, “Piece of cake.” Fitz leaned down and kissed her, drawing it out longer than they normally did. “Let’s go to bed,” he whispered, pulling her by her hands down to their bedroom. 

“Good night Fitz,” Jemma whispered, snuggling into his chest. 

“Night Jemma,” he kissed the top of her head sleepily. 

~~~~~

“Why are you driving me to school again?” Alya asked, sleepily rubbing her eyes as her dad set her breakfast in front of her. 

Jemma ran by looking for something, “Because it’s my first day back! It’s on my way anyways!” 

Alya and Fitz snickers at Jemma being so flustered, she wasn’t normally this flustered. 

Fitz bounced Rory who was on his hip, “Mummy’s leaving us Anemone, what do you think? Do you think I can handle you all by myself? I personally think that I’m a great stay at home dad, but we’ll just have to see,” he tickled Rory, to make her laugh. 

“Alright,” Jemma double checked her reflection in the small mirror next to the front door, “ready to go Alya?” 

“Yep!” Alya slid off the chair and grabbed her backpack and lunch box, going next to Jemma. 

Fitz walked over, “Rory, you want to say goodbye to mummy?” He said in a baby voice.

Jemma started tearing up as she took Aurora into her arms, “You be a good girl for daddy okay?” she cooed. “I’m going to miss you sweetheart, and I’ll be thinking of you all day!”

Rory just babbled in return. Jemma laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes and gave Aurora back to Fitz. 

“You’re both going to do great at school today!!” He yelled out the door as they were driving away. They both yelled back at him and waved ecstatically. 

Once their car was no longer able to be seen, Fitz turned to Rory, “What do you want to do today, huh? We can last all day without Jemma, can’t we?”

Rory looked like she wasn’t quite sure about that last question, Fitz laughed. 

Rory and Fitz ended up having a fantastic day, Fitz had missed bottle feeding and he loved his and Aurora’s bottle time. So he did lot’s of that, as well as tummy time, he read stories to her and napping together. 

Fitz was proud to report that she only had one meltdown and it only lasted for 7 minutes. 

~~~~~

Once Jemma and Alya came home he ruffled Alya’s head and told her to go do homework, and then he kissed Jemma lightly, and handed over Rory. While Jemma was cooing over Rory he asked, “How was it?”

“Oh Fitz, I missed teaching. It was so fun, thank you for the videos and photos,” Jemma meant it to come out sarcastically, but it came out genuinely, she really had enjoyed the videos. 

“Course.” 

“How’d she do?” Jemma asked. 

“She did fantastic, got a little cranky at around 1, but then I got her down for a nap, and it was all good.” 

Jemma smiled down at Rory and tickled her neck, “Of course you did, my good girl.” 

Fitz cleared his throat. 

Jemma smiled and kissed his cheek, “Of course you did amazing as well.”

“What do you say we have a celebration movie night, Alya picks out the movie, and then once she’s gone to bed,” FItz lowered his voice and whispered in Jemma’s ear, “We watch some Doctor Who?”

Jemma laughed, “Gee, you really know how to romance a girl. But that sounds like a lovely idea. Oh! I assigned my kids some homework that’s due Friday, you open to drawing some more monkeys for me?”

Fitz rolled his eyes, “I knew there was a reason you married me. For my monkey drawing abilities wasn’t it?” 

Jemma giggled, “Yes, and the helpful fact that I love you,” she kissed him. 

“I love you too.”

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again thanks to @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now!   
> PLEASE FILL OUT THIS SURVEY!!!: https://forms.gle/gayExgEpyX7xwkpT6  
> It's for the future of this fic!!!!
> 
> NEW DAILY SERIES TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE:  
> I'm doing a 25 day prompt series all with Christmas themes and different ships, not just Fitzsimmons! It started TODAY and will go through Christmas Day. It's called 25 Days of Ficlet Christmas! Go follow my tumblr to request ships @bookscoffeerain   
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day, and stay safe!


	31. Some Stars Shine Differently

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see the stark contrasts between the two sisters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely nerdy humans!  
> This chapter is once again bettaed by my wonderful beta, @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments! ALSO creds for the chapter title go to herrrr  
> Sorry I missed the last few posts! I'm working on something big, as well as my anxiety has been flaring up the few days, I think I had 3 panic attacks yesterday... so I took a break!

“Alya, you were supposed to make a model of our solar system. Simple! Just paint a few ping pong balls!” Fitz grumbled as he tinkered with the gears. 

Alya shrugged, “But I need to prove that I am ready to skip another grade!”

Alya was seven years old now and in 5th grade, hoping to get to go to middle school in two weeks when she had her assessment. Fitz and Jemma didn’t know how they felt about this situation, but Alya clearly wanted it and she was still going to her weekly play dates and did an okay job at making friends in her own grade. It wasn’t going to be great, she was a seven year old in a class full of ten year olds.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you proved yourself by doing this by yourself?!” Fitz loved that his daughter asked him to help her with making her model of the solar system. But he also needed to prove himself. He needed to prove to Jemma that he could put on the tough parent hat. 

When Alya came to them with her ideas, asking her to help design it. Jemma backed out, telling her it was her project and that she had lot’s of grading to do. Later that night, Jemma teased him, Fitz was determined to prove her wrong.

_ Fitz and Jemma were on the couch, Doctor Who playing in the background, the volume turned down low. Jemma was grading papers, while Fitz had his head leaned against her shoulder, doodling monkeys in the corners of each paper.  _

_ “Are you going to help Alya with her project?” Jemma tried to bring up lightly, but Fitz knew her too well, there was a slight edge in her voice.  _

_ “Probably. I mean, what she’s thinking of is pretty ambitious… even for her. I don’t want her to be unsupervised in the lab…” Fitz trailed off, Jemma had stopped grading, “What?” _

_ "I just want you to remember that this is her project. Don’t go off and do all the work for her.”  _

_ Fitz rolled his eyes, “I’m not gonna let her just slack off. I’ll just be there if she needs me.”  _

_ “Uh huh, sure,” Jemma agreed, sounding like she didn’t believe him.  _

_ “What?! I’ll help her with the design, make her down scale a bit because she won’t be able to do all that by herself, and then give her all the tools, and be there if she runs into an issue.” Fitz declared, feeling defensive.  _

_ “I bet that you’ll end up helping her the entire time. She’s too stubborn to let you do the whole thing for her, but you will definitely be helping her the whole time.” _

_ “We’ll just have to see about that won’t we,” Fitz retorted. Jemma smiled and leaned down to kiss him softly. _

_ “You’re a good dad, but you’re a sucker for your girls.” _

Fitz smiled at the memory, but he would not prove Jemma right, he was going to just fix this one issue with the gears Alya had and then… he felt the satisfying click and wiped his forehead, “Monkey! I think it’s fixed!” 

Alya leaned over it, trying to see if it was fixed, her smile brightened when she saw that it was fixed, “Thanks daddy!” She frowned, “What did I do wrong?”

“Oh! It was a pretty simple mistake, you just...” Fitz explained what went wrong.

“Thanks!” she said, brightly.

“Anytime monkey,” Fitz ruffled her hair. “I’ll be at my work bench if you need me okay?”

“Okay!” Even though Alya was the smartest kid out there, she was still 7, and definitely needed supervision. 

When they finished up for the night and walked back into the home Jemma smirked, Aurora in her swing, close to her. “Did you have fun?” She said with a knowing smile. 

“Yah! Dad’s the best lab partner!” Alya said, trying to be professional. 

Jemma smiled, “I’m aware,” 

“Uh oh, Jem, looks like you might be replaced!”

Jemma picked up Aurora and handed him to Fitz, rolling her eyes, “Don’t you even think about it,” she said fiercely, then kissing him sweetly. 

  
They heard sounds of Alya giggling in the background. 

~~~~~

Alya had gone to bed, and it was just Aurora, Fitz and Jemma. Jemma was curled into Fitz’s side, Aurora on Fitz’s lap, with Fitz feeding Alya a bottle. He had definitely missed this feeling. 

“Fitz. I’m worried.” Jemma broke the peaceful silence.

Fitz cocked his head towards Jemma, “Why?” 

“When Alya was this age, she was already crawling, almost walking! Rory hasn’t even said her first words yet! And she’s so sensitive to certain textures! What if I did something wrong during pregnancy?! What if she has a disorder or something? What will we do?!” Jemma sobbed into his shoulder. Fitz squeezed her, trying to console her, when he hadn’t even taken this into consideration.

They had been so busy the past few months that he hadn’t realized how behind Rory was compared to Alya. His little girl, having a disorder or a disability? He didn’t want her to have to go through that. Fitz felt his eyes well up as he smiled lovingly down at Aurora in his arms.    


“It’ll be okay, she’s only a little behind.” He whispered, both to console Jemma and himself. “And if she doesn’t start to catch up, we’ll take her into someone, okay? If she’s diagnosed with something, we’ll deal with it when we get there, but we’ll love her no matter what, right?” 

Jemma sniffled, “Of course. I just don’t want her to have to go through that.” 

“She’s 14 months old. Which is still in the average of speaking, and she is crawling, right? She’s not a master at it, and is nowhere near walking, but that’s also within average. 

Jemma nodded, shakily, gently taking Rory from Fitz, “Let get you to bed now,” she cooed. 

“Jem. Do you want me to set an appointment with someone?” 

She nodded shakily. 

~~~~~

Jemma hadn’t come back down yet, and Fitz was getting a little worried. 

Fitz went upstairs to find her curled up on their bed, crying. Fitz’s heart broke and he started crying too. He got in bed with her, and pulled her onto his chest, clutching each other for dear life. 

They used to have to do this all the time, back when they both had frequent nightmares, often on the same night. But once they got into the routine of Perthsire- they had lived here for over 3 years, those started happening less and less. 

Jemma’s breath started evening out a bit and she tried talking, “It’s just not fair. We’ve been through so much together… and apart. I don’t want our little girls to have to go through anything like that. Or anything at all.”

Fitz didn’t trust himself to say anything, tears were still rolling down his cheek.

Jemma turned around, confused at why he didn’t respond, to see his bloodshot eyes, “Oh Fitz,” she whispered as she brushed off a tear off his cheek and kissed his cheek, “Talk to me,” she said softly. 

“I don’t care if Rory is slower than others, I don’t care if she’s a genius or not. I just don’t want her to have to go through all of that. All of that hell. I just want to give her a good life… and I guess I stupidly thought that saying goodbye to SHIELD would solve all of our problems. That we were saying goodbye to all the bad things. But, no, this world can still throw punches at us, even after all we’ve done for it.” 

“We don’t know if anything is wrong with her, okay? We may just be jumping to conclusions.” Jemma tried to console him. 

“I guess we just wait and see until our appointment,” Fitz said trying to wipe off both his and Jemma’s tears. 

~~~~~

Jemma put a hand to his face, “There’s no one I’d rather go through with this is you. You know that right?” 

Fitz smiled and nodded, “I love you so much Jem. So much.” 

“Let’s go to bed?” 

Fitz nodded and kissed the top of her head, “Let’s go to bed.” he confirmed. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… I did a major time jump, whoops.  
> I’m pretty sure I screwed up the math a lot, so just ignore it. It doesn’t exist. Math who?????  
> Also representation!!!! I got some big plans for representation and mental illness and all that  
> Once again thanks to @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now!  
> PLEASE FILL OUT THIS SURVEY!!!: https://forms.gle/gayExgEpyX7xwkpT6  
> It's for the future of this fic!!!!  
> NEW DAILY SERIES TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE:  
> I'm doing a 25 day prompt series all with Christmas themes and different ships, not just Fitzsimmons! It started a few days ago and will go through Christmas Day. It's called 25 Days of Ficlet Christmas! Go follow my tumblr to request ships @bookscoffeerain  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day, and stay safe!


	32. Pesto Aioli

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fitz-Simmons go to the doctors office, and go on a little adventure afterwards!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely nerdy humans!  
> I'M BACK!  
> I took a small mental health break, but I'm back now!  
> This chapter is once again bettaed by my wonderful beta, @Agent_Of_Something she does some really great work with Fitzsimmons on her own account so I definitely recommend going to check her out if you need some more FitzSimmons moments! ALSO creds for the chapter title go to her!

Fitz and Jemma drove in silence. Fitz looked over at Jemma and squeezed her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. Jemma put a hand to meet his and squeezed it, giving him a grateful smile in return. 

“That went well, didn’t it?” Fitz asked. 

“All things considered, it could’ve gone worse,” Jemma replied. 

They were driving back from their doctor’s appointment with Aurora. The doctor had basically told them that Alya had just been extremely early with everything and that although this baby was technically behind, how behind she was, was exaggerated by the fact that their first daughter was ahead in every area. The doctor told them not to worry too much now, just to keep doing what they had already been doing, and if Aurora doesn’t start crossing milestones in a month, then they may start doing occupational therapy and might look into diagnosing her with something. The doctor told them that they could be looking at her having a sensory disorder. He reassured them that most kids who have a sensory disorder are perfectly fine when they get older. 

But that didn’t make it any less scary for the two parents.

~~~~~

It was late that night, and both Jemma and Fitz couldn’t sleep. Finally, Jemma spoke up, “I know that this may not correlate to learning disabilities, but let’s say that Rory does end up having autism or dyslexia, I’m not worried about us all loving her and getting her the help she needs, I know we’ll do that in a heartbeat. But how hard is it going to be, growing up in a house full of geniuses, and having a learning disability? Always feeling like the less talented one or second best, even though that’s not true, or-” Jemma couldn’t finish as she burst into tears. 

Fitz sat up quickly and held her tight, tears threatening to escape from his eyes, “I don’t know what we’ll do,” he admitted. “But that’s a long way off, okay? And I know we are going to make sure that she knows she’s loved no matter what her personality or IQ is,” Fitz kissed the top of her head. 

Jemma nodded, “I know, it’s just I don’t want her to feel less than.”

Fitz chuckled, “That’s a long way off Jem. Okay? Let’s worry about the next month and then we’ll take it from there.” 

She smiled and clutched onto him, “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Course,” he kissed the top of her head again. “That’s what we do Jem, calm the other down, when the world is too much. Ease each other’s burden.” 

“Since when did you get so poetic?” She tried smirking, wiping tears from her eyes. 

“Since I’ve had to read many a rhyming books to our daughters.”

“You really are a good dad,” she said, smiling and settling into his warm arms. 

“You say that a lot,” Fitz mused, “You’re a great mum.”

She turned slightly and kissed his cheek, “Thanks.”

They sat still until she spoke up again, “I think it’s because sometimes I still can't believe we’ve actually made it this far. Two beautiful little girls, a wonderful house, a great,  _ not dangerous  _ job, and you of course.”

“Sometimes I forget that we had anything else before this. Sometimes I slip away and believe we met under some normal circumstances. Then I’ll have a nightmare and just remember, that no, we didn’t have this, not for a long time,” he admitted.

Jemma put a hand to his cheek, “But we do now.” Fitz just smiled and reached a hand up to meet hers. “I get that, like how did I not know you would be an amazing father? How were we ever content in the field? Why didn’t we try to leave before we did?” Jemma asked in wonder.

“I don’t know,” Fitz admitted. “Sometimes I think we needed the taste of life alone in space, to push us. That if we hadn’t have had that, we might still be out there risking our lives.”

“We were stupid,” Jemma laughed.

“Some geniuses we are,” Fitz agreed. 

They didn’t say anything for a moment before Jemma spoke up, “Do you ever miss the thrill of inventing things for a purpose though?” 

“Maybe a little bit,” Fitz admitted.

“What do you think of starting something with Mack? Consulting?” Jemma asked, cautiously, all these years later and that was still a sore subject between the two of them.

“I have a full time job,” Fitz waved her off, “Rory’s not going to school anytime soon, and once she starts walking she’ll be a handful.” 

Jemma narrowed her eyes at him, “She’ll nap, plus I happen to know that you still do design things and invent things, just not specifically for SHIELD. And I know that someone still has their insomniac tendencies, so you will have time to do it.”

Fitz stared at her, “I’ll think about it,” he muttered. 

“Mack wouldn’t let anything happen to Alya or Aurora, he loves them so much, he’ll make sure we are protected if you start consulting. He made us a lab for a reason,” she reminded him. 

“Yah, maybe…” Fitz trailed off, unsure if he could do this, he turned back to Jemma with a smile, “You just miss real science but you already have a job so you’re trying to get me to go back, aren’t you?!” He accused.

“Maybe,” she said slyly. 

“I will think about it, okay? But that’s all I can promise.” Fitz told her, going back to the serious conversation.

“That’s all I’m asking for,” she said, kissing him sweetly, then letting out a big yawn. 

“Are you feeling better now?” Fitz asked, laying back down, and beckoning Jemma to join him. 

“Much better, thanks,” she said as she snuggled into his side, to get warm.

“Anytime,” he kissed the top of her head and both of them drifted off to sleep. 

~~~~~

It was breakfast the next morning, and everyone was at the breakfast nook, Alya and Jemma were eating, while Fitz was feeding Rory. 

“Can we have a dog?” Alya asked out of nowhere.

Fitz almost spit out his drink, his eyes lit up, and he was about to say yes until he saw Jemma’s face, “I don’t know, ask your mum,” he said, trying to act disinterested and not invested. 

Jemma tried not to laugh at Fitz’s stellar acting abilities. She composed herself and listened to her daughter. 

“Can we please have a dog? A dog is a very good way to teach children responsibility, I’ll take care of it. I’ll walk it every day, and I’ll feed it, and I’ll refill it’s water bowl, and all help potty train it. And if we get a rescue we could save it from an awful life!” Alya pleaded.

Jemma pursed her lips, “Your father and I will have a discussion about it later.”

“That’s not a no!” Alya’s blue eyes became wide with excitement. 

“Go get your backpack,” Jemma told Alya. Once Alya left she turned to Fitz, “Did you talk to her at all about this?

Fitz shook his head, trying to exaggerate his innocence, “I did nothing!”

“Uh huh,” she sounded like she didn’t believe him. 

“That really wasn’t a no, though,” he pointed out. 

“We shall discuss this later tonight,” Jemma promised, before grabbing her bag and turning to leave.

“Have fun at school you two!” Fitz called, waving Aurora’s chubby arm for her, she babbled in nonsense noises. 

Fitz turned to Rory once they left, “Let’s go have tummy time, eh?” He tickled her and her light, high pitched giggles rang out, making Fitz laugh along with her. 

~~~~~

“I can’t believe I let you convince me to do this,” Jemma shook her head.    


Fitz and Jemma were in the car the next day, Jemma had a day off, Alya was at school, and Fitz’s mum was over at their house looking after Rory. And they were off to the local shelter to pick out a dog to surprise Alya with for when she got home for school.

“Why did I let myself be convinced of this?” She asked in disbelief to no one.

Fitz kissed Jemma’s knuckles, “Because you love me,  _ and _ because this will make Alya very happy and could motivate Rory to start walking,” Fitz repeated the main points of his side from last night.

“Alya better be the one to take care of this,” Jemma warned.

“Don’t worry, she’s a good kid,” Fitz reminded her.

Jemma sighed, “I know.”

~~~~~

When they got to the shelter they spotted many very cute dogs that all were potentials, but then they saw this Australian Shepherd that clearly just wanted to play, wagging his tail. 

“Jemma,” Fitz whispered, “Look at it’s name,”

Jemma’s breath caught when she saw the nameplate, ‘Pesto’ it read. She rolled her eyes and sighed, but smiled and turned to Fitz, kissing his cheek, “I guess we’re getting an Australian Shepherd.”

“Jemma! The name couldn’t be more perfect! Speaking of Pesto, I think we’re out of mozzarella for the sandwich,”

“Always thinking of your stomach,” she teased. 

After Jemma asked her multitude of questions to the nice store clerks, and Jemma approved him, they bought some supplies from the store, and they made their way back home.

As expected, Alya squealed when she walked through the door. 

She was delighted and immediately started playing with Pesto, they got along really well, especially since Alya sometimes felt lonely, she now had a friend that would always be there no matter what. 

Alya did really well with her responsibilities, but every now and then she would forget and Fitz would take care of it without a complaint, Jemma always rolled her eyes. 

Once Alya goes to bed every night, Fitz lays on the ground on the carpet, and Pesto comes and lays next to him, with his head on top of Fitz’s shoulder.

Jemma always shakes her head and smiles on the couch, whispering, “My boys.”

~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone welcome the newest Fitz-Simmons to the family: Pesto (Aioli) Fitz-Simmons the dog!  
> The dogo's name creds go to my lovely beta @Agent_Of_Something she's awesome!! Go check out her stuff right now!  
> PLEASE FILL OUT THIS SURVEY!!!: https://forms.gle/gayExgEpyX7xwkpT6  
> It's for the future of this fic!!!!  
> Feel free to leave comments/questions/suggestions/feedback/kudos but honestly, you just taking the time out of your day to read my work is unbelievable and reward enough, so don't feel any pressure!  
> NEWish DAILY SERIES TUMBLR EXCLUSIVE:  
> I'm doing a 25 day prompt series all with Christmas themes and different ships, not just Fitzsimmons! It started a few days ago and will go through Christmas Day. It's called 25 Days of Ficlet Christmas! Go follow my tumblr to request ships @bookscoffeerain  
> Go follow my tumblr @bookscoffeerainydays for exclusive content and drabbles and one shots!  
> Have a lovely day, and stay safe!


End file.
